Here is a written up version of my talk at this year’s Rest is Noise Festival that was part of their weekend on politics and spirituality in the late 20th century. I’ve added a couple of thoughts as I went along based on contributions from the audience. One thing that really … Read more
Observing the 80s is delighted to share this week’s guest blog post from Professor Steven Fielding of Nottingham University.
In the wake of Labour’s disastrous 1983 campaign Tony Benn informed readers of the Guardian newspaper that despite appearances it was a great achievement, because, ‘for the first time since 1945, a political party with an … Read more
I will be introducing the panel discussion at Mass Observation’s ESRC Festival of Social Science on the 8th November. In the build up to the event I’ve been thinking about happiness in the 1980s. When I’ve read through the Mass Observation Directive Retrospectives on 1986 and the decade as a whole in … Read more
This summer Lucy Robinson invited Ben Jones to use the Observing the 80s resources to write a paper for the New Times Revisited conference held at the University of Birmingham. The panel included papers by Lucy and Jill Kirby, who expertly introduced the resource. Here Ben reflects on how the material challenged his assumptions … Read more
A key member of the Observing the 80s team is leaving Sussex University for pastures new next week so I thought I’d just take a minute to mark his contribution, thank him and wish him all the best.
Stuart Lamour, the User Experience Manager in Sussex’s E-Learning team, was absolutely central in the development of the … Read more
As part of my other 80s work I’m involved in a series of events organised through an AHRC funded network, Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change. The first event which will be held in Bristol seems particularly relevant to Observing the 80s.
Subcultures Network: The Interdisciplinary Network for the Study of Subcultures, … Read more
Stop us if you think that you’ve heard this one before – Verbal Hallucinations and Observing the 1980s
Not every OER or digital archive can boast its very own house band – after my last post’s discussion of the radical potential of Shipping (fantasy relationships between the members of boy band One Direction), it seems appropriate … Read more
In the last few weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time with academics, commentators and film makers discussing young people and what they are, or are not, doing culturally and politically now. It does seem that I’ve been rather stuck in an 80s rut.
Dr Nick Bentley, Dr Mark Featherstone, Dr Beth Johnson and … Read more
Image courtesy of Bob and Roberta Smith
One of the things that really interested us when we were setting up Observing the Eighties was to find a way to move beyond both top down narratives of Thatcher’s premiership and retro descriptions of pop culture. We felt that the Mass Observation Project writing and … Read more
Stephen Brooke (York University) has sent us this response to the Observing the 1980s project:
The wonderful achievement that is Observing the 80s opens up many possibilities in writing, teaching and thinking about everyday life in one of the most tumultuous decades of the twentieth century. The site has a truly impressive depth and … Read more
