Research Impact and Engagement

Led by Prof. Rosaleen Howard

This project reinforced the skills and professional profiles of the indigenous participants in the Peruvian state training programme in translation and interpreting between indigenous languages and Spanish.

It raised the visibility of the bilingual indigenous women leaders. These women work as non-accredited mediators among members of their communities in highland Peru.

It triggered the recruitment of three of the non-accredited interpreters to work for the Commission set up to register Quechua- and Aymara-speaking victims of an enforced sterilisation programme that targeted indigenous people in the 1990s. Newcastle research brought to the state's attention the suitability of the non-accredited interpreters due to their gender and cultural sensibilities. Their mediation ensured the rightful registration of the victims.

Howard’s work led to one of the non-accredited interpreters doing the state training programme. She is now accredited.

The project also raised consciousness with the team at Peru's 'Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion', where the events of Peru's recent 'dirty war' are documented. This 'dirty war' blighted the lives of the women who participated in the follow-on-funding project and their communities.

Led by Prof Beate Müller

Müller's research on the Holocaust puts the fate of children under Nazi rule and their testimonies at centre stage.

Her work has shaped the ways in which charities, schools, as well as organisations and authorities in South Africa and the North-East of England educate their publics about the Third Reich.

Müller's travelling exhibition and associated learning resources centre on children's lives under Nazi rule. They have equipped existing provision with a new focus on children from all walks of life. This is particularly effective for educating young learners.

Her work has resulted in changes in educational practices and resources used. It has enriched the awareness of schoolchildren, vulnerable youths, and the general public about the dangers of racism.

Led by Dr Patricia Oliart

Inclusion of critical gender, race and ethnicity perspectives in education among policy makers, teacher training programmes and teachers

Oliart's research (2011) revealed the social and cultural history of education linked to the institutional cultures in the education system in Peru.

This research influenced:

• the formulation of the National Education Plan for 2007-2021
• the implementation of education policies between 2014 and 2016

The Fe y Alegria is a network of schools (80 schools and 84,000 students in Peru). It uses Oliart's research on teenage sexuality in Cusco (2005) for capacity-building work among teachers serving rural schools and marginal urban communities. It aims to reduce school dropouts among teenage girls.

Oliart’s work figures in the curricula of teacher training programmes on intercultural education in Peru, Chile and Bolivia.

Screening Violence is an innovative engagement with communities that have experienced civil conflict in:

• Algeria
• Argentina
• Colombia
• Indonesia
• Northern Ireland

The research is Led by Guy Austin, in collaboration with Nick Morgan and Philippa Page (all SML), plus Simon Philpott (GPS) and colleagues from Ulster and Bristol Universities, plus from 5 countries around the world, 

We aim to achieve a new understanding of how social imaginaries shape civil conflicts and transitions to peace. Using film screenings as a catalyst to reflection, we interview and film participants expressing their reaction to films from the other countries in the study, and their own experiences of violence. The goal is to go beyond the so-called “flat-pack peace” with its universalising assumptions. We engage with local experiences and perceptions of conflict and its aftermath. At the end of the project, we'll bring together selected participants and screen the documentaries we're making about their experiences.

For information on Screening Violence, see https://research.ncl.ac.uk/screeningviolence/

In November 2019, the Chinese Film Independent Film Network UK (CIFNUK) curated Earth in Crisis: Chinese Eco-documentary UK Tour. Dr Sabrina Qiong Yu led this AHRC-funded project on Chinese independent cinema. The tour showcased a series of Chinese eco-documentary films foregrounding the growing ecological emergency facing our planet. The tour ran from 7–21 November 2019 and hosted three award-winning independent filmmakers from China, Wang Jiuliang, Fan Jian and Wang Lib. They presented to UK audiences their films:

• Plastic China (2017)
• The Next Life (2011)
• A Second Child (2019)
• Oh, the Sanxia (2013)

With its persistent effort to promote Chinese independent films in the UK, CIFNUK made an important breakthrough this time. It hosted screenings and Q&A discussions at six arthouse cinemas in five cities:

• Tyneside Cinema Newcastle
• Home Manchester
• Showroom Sheffield
• Lakeside Arts Nottingham
• Phoenix Cinema and Bertha DocHouse London
• University of Edinburgh

The majority of responses from audience members were very positive – with the main responses being those of:

• surprise and enlightenment and having learned something new
• shock and sadness at the subject matter
• interested in or informed by the films and subsequent discussions

70% of audience members surveyed said they specifically learnt something new by attending Earth in Crisis. During November 2019, there were another two external film festivals at Tyneside Cinema: London East Asian Film Festival and UK Jewish Film Festival. CIFN attracted 3.2 times more people than the other two festivals combined and delivered 2.1 times more revenue than the other two festivals combined.

The exhibition ‘Europe at War: Chaves Nogales – Spanish Journalist and Exile 1917–1944’ went on display at Newcastle University’s Long Gallery (10–21 February 2020). It honoured the life and work of Spanish journalist Manuel Chaves Nogales. Nogales refused to take an extreme ideological position during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and warned against the growth of totalitarianism across Europe.

The purpose of this collaborative exhibition with the University of Seville and the Newcastle City Library was to bring to light Chaves Nogales pioneering work in the field of journalism. Nogales travelled extensively throughout Europe. He was one of the first foreign correspondents to witness and report on events taking place in Russia in the immediate aftermath of the 1917 revolution. He also wrote about his experience of exile, first in Paris and then in London, until he died in 1944.

Dr Jorge Catalá Carrasco from SML co-organised the exhibition. It presented never seen before articles published in 1939 for the Newcastle-based North Mail that described the dramatic siege of Madrid. This collaborative work has strengthened links with the University of Seville with a view to foster closer relations between the two universities.

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2020/02/chavesnogalesexhibition/

In 2018, Dr Pauline Henry-Tierney suggested creating a university-wide resource focussing on language and gender. Two successful rounds of funding later, our ‘Language and gender inclusivity’ guide was born. It is available on the university’s EDI page. Dr Anne-Charlotte Husson, as project leader, collaborated with Dr Henry-Tierney and student intern Siân Dickie.

This project explores gender through language (‘Gender is so many words’), as well as different ways in which language is gendered (‘Gender-inclusive language’). It is based on contributions from over 100 participants from across the University. Its goal is to facilitate informed and respectful conversations about gender.

An abridged version was translated into simplified and traditional Chinese, Arabic, French and Spanish. More avenues are now being explored, such as:

• adding more languages (Malay, Hindi, Japanese and German are being envisaged)
• embedding the resource into SML’s language teaching
• using it as a tool for staff and student induction and training

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/who-we-are/equality/language-inclusivity/

The project run by the LRC was a semester-long scheme involving a student language ambassador, NELEP and Churchill Community College (a school with high levels of disadvantage). The trial also looked at:

• the feasibility of available technology
• safeguarding issues
• obstacles to delivering such engagement

The objective was to share knowledge of Hispanosphere culture and language with thirteen year-eight pupils. It used an online peer-to-peer approach, with the aim of encouraging them to take the EBacc in the future.

The approach was blended with the class initially visiting the LRC, a series of on-line sessions and then a showcase of activities by the pupils at the school to other staff, parents and visitors. There were four on-line sessions, mediated through Zoom embedded in Teams:

1. Broadening Horizons: Why study Spanish?

2. Spanish in mainstream culture and its influence

3. Spanish traditions and celebrations

4. Where can Spanish take you?

The project allowed the pupils to:

• explore other aspects of language learning that are not always readily available in the classroom
• have contact with degree students
• develop their oracy skills in a formal setting

There were very few costs involved in the project. The equipment was hi-tech but readily available in the school. The head of languages from Churchill CC stated: “it is clear now, having returned to normal lessons, that those students who took part in the project have a greater thirst for language learning and this is more visible now that they are amongst the group of students who did not take part."

Student Language Ambassador: Phil Etchells

LRC Lead: Holly Pennal