On early May I had the opportunity to visit Northumbria to take part in the BODYWORKS conference on corporeal representation. In all honesty I knew the following three things about Northumbria, prior to my visit:
Newcastle "Newkie Brown" Ale- A time honoured staple of the working class drinker. It is coloured like muddy rust, comes in a sturdy bottle that is unmistakably a bottle, and also has this cool thermometer thing on the side of the label that tells you if it gets too warm. I got turned to it by the thermometer to be honest. Being from the med, if the beer isn't about to turn into a solid ice-cube I am not touching it. Plus when I was an undergrad I remember my choice of ale always got a cheer down the pub ...Now why were those people so enthusiastic about what sort of beer one drinks beats me.
Vikings- You know the history channel series? Yes it is quite good and I watched it voraciously. Well according to the History channel, Northumbria was the very first plot of British soil the Vikings set their foot on. Yes there was loads of rape, church burning and pillaging. So you say Northumbria to me the image of a Scandinavian dude wearing a horned helmet, downing some Newkie Brown against a backdrop of smouldering remains, is the first thing that springs to mind.
Sub-Saharan Africa- Oh there is that as well. I quite recently had the opportunity to read through "Tyneside Neighbourhoods", a book by Daniel Nettle, dealing with unemployment, deprivation and social behaviour in Northumbria. It makes for an excellent read and I highly recommend it. It is published via Open Books Publishers and you can get it for free here.
One of the things I picked up from the book is how Daniel Nettle found that deprivation is so vast in the areas surrounding the river Tyne, that social behaviour is closer to people living under third world conditions.
Thus, the Scandinavian horned helmet guy, just got his backdrop enhanced by some burning bins, spitting and a general drop in hygiene. Beautiful...
Upon arrival thankfully all was dispelled. Newcastle upon Tyne is a beautiful place, with loads of hidden away corners reminiscent of it's medieval past. I had the chance to walk around a lot and visited a couple of the museums on offer. I got lucky and found this beautiful 1901 sculpture of "The Spirit of Contemplation" by Albert Toft.
The conference itself was a big success. It had a very friendly atmosphere, and you got a sense of camaraderie from everyone. I met loads of interesting people and the presentations were thought provoking. There was a big representation of researchers on body-building, with some great ideas pivoting on how one gets alienated from one's own body. Especially riveting from me was an idea put forward by an Estonian researcher regarding how true beauty is intolerable to the world, and how as soon as it is formed the world seeks to destroy it.
Academic conferences are nice, and maybe this is just me, but up until now, and maybe especially when you are in the early-ish stages of your PhD, all you see is your research. You are virtually deaf and blind to everything else. All is just one big internal monologue. It has even spoilt watching movies for me.
Let's say you are researching potatoes, and you go to a conference on tomatoes. Everyone is going to be talking about tomatoes and you are going to be saying to yourself:
"Are these people blind? This would make great potato stuff...Why do they keep linking it to tomatoes?".
In reality all conferences are one big gathering of people desperate to talk to someone that understands them. The resulting dialogues can sometimes be very entertaining:
-Did you know that potatoes do that?
-Oh really? Tomatoes do this..
-What are you two talking about?
-Tomatoes!
-Potatoes!
-Have you seen what strawberries do?