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Fraser Riddell

@fraserriddell.bsky.social

Teaches English. Research in Victorian literature, medical humanities, sensory studies, queer things, music 🎵 🏳️‍🌈 Leads the Affective Experience Lab, Durham.

103 Posts1693 Follower3081 Folgt
Carsten Timmermann@ctimmermann.bsky.social · 2d ago

This chapter by Ian Hacking has stood the test of time. Worth revisiting at a time when we doubt the reality of long COVID, fight culture wars over gender identity, and get exercised over the question if neurodivergence is becoming more common.

First page of Making up People by Ian Hacking.Cover of the volume in which the chapter was published, Reconstructing Individualism (1986)
Joanna Wyld@joannawyld.bsky.social · 6d ago

I wrote about Bach's Cello Suites for Alisa Weilerstein's recital at this year's Edinburgh International Festival. I particularly enjoyed revisiting the story of Pablo Casals finding a copy of the pieces in a charity shop and reigniting their popularity. Do have a read www.eif.co.uk/news-and-blo...

Get to Know Bach’s Cello Suites: from Obscurity to Eternity | Edinburgh International Festival

Re-discovering the Bach Cello Suites in a Charity Shop? Read on to discover the history of one of the greatest composers of all time, and what to listen fo

eif.co.uk

Fraser Riddell @fraserriddell.bsky.social · 6d ago

Fredric Jameson foresaw all: “Interpretation is not an isolated act, but takes place on a Homeric battlefield, on which a host of interpretative options are either openly on implicitly in conflict“ (The Political Unconscious, 1981)

Fraser Riddell @fraserriddell.bsky.social · last wk.

Great to see that the next volume of Vernon Lee's letters is published in September: doi.org/10.4324/9781... Great work from Sophie Geoffroy and Mandy Gagel @ivls-thesibyl.bsky.social @walterpatersociety.bsky.social

Selected Letters of Vernon Lee, 1856–1935 | Volume IV: 1897–1904 | Sop

Vernon Lee was the pen name of Violet Paget (1856–1935) – a prolific author best known for her supernatural fiction and her radical polemics. She was also an

doi.org

John Garrison Marks@johngmarks.com · last wk.

In 2018 I read about universities, libraries, and humanities councils in New England convening veterans to discuss The Odyssey to help them make sense of their own experiences and was blown away by what a good idea it was. Funding the humanities = good. www.concordmonitor.com/2018/03/14/h...

‘Homer can help you’: War veterans use ancient epics to cope - Concord Monitor

The trials of Odysseus are really not that different from the struggles of those learning to readjust after wars of today, modern veterans are finding.A small group of military veterans has been meeti...

concordmonitor.com

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2w ago

Great to see the Guardian champion the SHAPE (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) subjects, but this piece gives impression that they are expensive, whereas many are 'cheap to teach' subjects subsidising more expensive subjects, mainly in STEM and medicine. The crisis demands better understanding.

The Guardian view on humanities cuts in universities: academic departments are more than cost centres | Editorial

Editorial: Literature, the arts and social sciences must not be sacrificed as higher education funding is squeezed

theguardian.com

Fraser Riddell @fraserriddell.bsky.social · 2w ago

Funded PhD Project in Medical Humanities at Aix-Marseille University: 'Solace and Cancer: Unwriting the Metaphor of Illness', with focus on contemporary English literature. (B2-level French required). Further details available from Prof. Nicolas Boileau (nicolas.boileau [at] uni-amu.fr)

This PhD proposal therefore invites applicants with a solid knowledge of Anglophone literature and philosophy, and possibly knowledge in health and social sciences, to work for three years on the question of solace in the experience of cancer through narrative both in the LERMA (Laboratoire d’études et de recherche sur le monde anglophone) and at the IPC in Marseilles. Under the supervision of Nicolas Pierre Boileau, the PhD candidate will examine varied contemporary accounts such as Julian Barnes’s, Jon McGregor’s, Philip Roth’s, John McGahern’s, or John Banville’s, to name a few, in order to address the question of solace in the experience of cancer through modes of indirect elaboration, and the unwriting of metaphors as emancipation towards greater understandings of the singularity of experience. Some of these works are novels, others memoirs, but all testify to the indirect treatment of their author’s illness and their struggle towards undoing the metaphor of cancer, once thought as an insidious, self-inflicted disease linked with the repression of the self or some spiritual ordeal to be overcome. Reading and analytical workshops, co-supervised by Nicolas Boileau and the PhD candidate, set up over the course of the three-year programme, will enable patients, relatives and staff to engage with the question of solace. The project situates itself at the interface of a theoretical addition to the existent work on these questions and a burgeoning methodology (akin to narrative medicine) of prompting indirect accounts as modes of access to coherent and cohesive narratives, reinforcing the qualitative analysis that will contribute to the overall project underway at IPC, in Marseilles, France.Eligibility Applicants must hold an MA or M.Phil, or any degree that can be regarded as equivalent. Applicants must speak French (B2+ level). Applicants should have prior education in literature, philosophy, medical or health humanities, ethics, sociology, psychology or anthropology. Conditions The 3-year contract will start on October 1st or November 1st 2026. The salary is €2,135/ month before tax and is funded by the University of Aix-Marseille, France. How to apply? Applicants will send the following documents to Emmanuelle.gerardo@univ-amu.fr and Nicolas.boileau@univ-amu.fr - a CV with, when applicable, explanations as to how certain items fit in the general profile - a cover letter explaining how the applicant thinks they might fit in the project (max. 4 pages) - The transcripts of their MA grades. Application deadline: September 15th, 2026
Fraser Riddell @fraserriddell.bsky.social · 4w ago

Our University sector is one of the UK’s great success stories: sparking creativity and imagination; driving regional investment; attracting students from around the world. Why is this Labour government starving it of the resources it needs to flourish?

Wonkhe@wonkhe.bsky.social · 4w ago

NEW on Wonkhe: The 2026 NSS results bring evidence that most students are happy with their academic experience, and particularly appreciate the skills of their academic staff buff.ly/oE1Jxud

Matthew L Reznicek@drreznicek.bsky.social · last mo.

Job klaxon: we’re hiring a one-year position in the History of 19th and/or 20th century Western medicine broadly construed, with capacity for teaching courses related to women/gender and health history and the history of technology and medicine. hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/374...

Careers

This position is based on campus. Per UMN policy, work may be done remotely when appropriate and approved by your manager.  All UMN employees are expected to follow applicable public health and safety procedures.

hr.myu.umn.edu

Fraser Riddell @fraserriddell.bsky.social · last mo.

Please sign this letter in support of my brilliant colleagues at Exeter, whose jobs are under threat. Scholars there have led the way in developing research in queer studies, Victorian studies and medical humanities. Their loss would be catastrophic blow to the intellectual richness of our field.

Stu West@stuwest.bsky.social · last mo.

The University of Exeter have announced a programme of academic staff cuts, including all of www.exeter.ac.uk/research/gro... Sign the open letter of support at docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... @crab-exeter.bsky.social

Durham Institute for Medical Humanities@durhamimh.bsky.social · last mo.

Next up in our interview series with the new cohort of In Practice Research Fellows is Sam Slatcher! Sam @samslatcher.bsky.social is a freelance creative practitioner and researcher working at the intersection of arts, community and wellbeing. Hear from Sam 👇️

Introducing Sam Slatcher: New Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellow

An interview with Sam Slatcher, who joins us as a Medical Humanities in Practice Fellow.

medhumsplatform.org