Introduction
Hi! I’m Nikki Tomlinson and I’m in my second year of a PhD
in Spanish Studies. My project involves analysing films made in Spain in the
past 10 years to see what they can tell us about regional identity. Spain is
made up of 17 autonomous regions, a bit like counties in England, but they are
often much larger as there are not as many of them. I’m researching two
autonomous communities: Andalusia, the largest region in the country, in the
south of Spain; and Catalonia, in the north-east.

In Depth
The two regions of Andalusia and Catalonia have very
different histories and cultures, but over the course of Spain’s history, they
have often been unable to express an idea of what constitutes their own
regional identity. Film is an incredibly powerful story-telling tool that can
reach a huge number of people, so I use film to investigate what these stories
can tell us about how each region perceives itself – and wants to be perceived
– today. I do watch a lot of films for my research, but I find my project so
interesting because I see it as combining several disciplines – cultural
studies, politics, history, and even law and economics..!
At a time when debates surrounding national identity and
what it involves are in the news on a daily basis, my topic feels exciting and
relevant, and the field is certainly fast-paced! I have recently come back from
fieldwork in Spain, where I have so far attended four film festivals in
Andalusia and Catalonia. Film festivals play an important role in my research,
as they can determine how many people see a film, or which countries those
films are distributed to – often, if a film wins an award, it means that it can
reach an international audience. I was able to see a huge number of
recently-released films, as well as to meet filmmakers and discuss their work
with them. I find it highly enjoyable seeing the changing shape of the film
industry in the regions and the innovations that professionals are devising to
continue making the films they want to make. I am able to keep in contact with
the people I met at the events in Spain, and it’s very interesting to see
people winning awards for their work. There are new developments every day, so
it’s certainly a dynamic project to work on!


How I got here
I completed an integrated Masters in Modern Languages
(specialising in French and Spanish) at the University of Manchester, which I
loved. I then worked in a range of fields, from managing the development of a
start-up business in Spain, to marketing, to teaching English as a foreign
language! I had always thought that I wanted to take my studies of Spanish
culture further, and while I was working in Andalusia as an English teacher, an
idea for a proposal came to me. I finally bit the bullet and wrote to my
previous lecturer at Manchester, explaining my idea. I put together a proposal
and applied for funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. I was
delighted to receive the funding, and have never looked back!
Going Further
Manchester is very lucky to have a branch of the Instituto
Cervantes, a Spanish language centre with a library, dance and culture courses
and lots of activities: http://manchester.cervantes.es/en/default.shtm
There are a number of Spanish film festivals around the UK
throughout the year, which are great for seeing a range of films from Spain and
the Spanish-speaking world. One of these is the ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin
American Festival, held at Manchester’s HOME arts centre around the Easter
holiday: https://homemcr.org/event/viva-spanish-latin-american-festival-2017/
For more news and information about the Catalan film and
television industry: http://www.catalanfilms.cat/en/index.jsp
And for Andalusia: http://www.fundacionava.org/
by YPU Admin on March 19, 2015,
. Tags:
art, Chile, cinema, Cornerhouse, culture, film, history, Humanities, languages, latin-american, literature, manchester, music, Religion, Research, salsa, Spain, and spanish
Introduction
My name is Nicola and
I’m in the third year of a PhD in Latin American Cultural Studies. I did
A-levels in Spanish, English Literature and History and went on to study
Spanish at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, spending my year abroad in
the north of Chile. After returning to Chile for another year to teach English,
and then doing a Masters in Latin American Cultural Studies at the University
of Manchester, I began my PhD which looks at how members of the British public
engage with Latin American culture in the city of Manchester.

In Depth
The first thing to
point out about studying Spanish (or any language) at university level is that
it’s not just about the language! While your language skills are obviously
important and will be developed, you will also spend lots of time studying
foreign cultures and how other people around the world live and express
themselves. This can involve studying literature, film, music, art, history,
religion and indigenous cultures. And, in the case of Spanish, you don’t just
study Spain, but also Latin America!
After doing my
undergraduate degree and Masters, and living in Chile, I found myself
particularly interested in how Latin America is perceived in Britain. Latin
American culture, such as salsa classes, music, food and films have become
popular in this country over the past couple of decades, yet Latin Americans are
a relatively small immigrant population in the UK and not many people travel
there, although both have started to increase in recent years. My research
therefore investigates how Latin American culture is produced in the city of
Manchester and how members of the public consume it.
My research focuses in
particular on the annual ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Film Festival at the
Cornerhouse cinema. I analyse how the film festival is produced, the reasons
why they choose some films over others, why they choose particular images to
publicise the festival. By interviewing members of the audience, I can find out
whether these choices influence the way members of the audience envisage Latin
America, or if there are other factors to be considered, such as how the media
portrays Latin America. My research also investigates what attracts British
people to Latin American culture, especially whether it stems from a
cosmopolitan concern to understand others around the world, something
particular to Latin American culture and/or disenchantment with contemporary
British culture and society.

Going Further
See what you think of the ¡Viva! film festival at
their website: http://www.cornerhouse.org/viva2014?no-redir
For information on studying Spanish, Portuguese and
Latin American Studies at the University of Manchester: http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/splas
For more information on Latin Americans in the UK,
you might like to read this report on the Latin American community in London: http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/docs/research/latinamerican/48637.pdf
by YPU Admin on November 27, 2014,
. Tags:
creation, cyborgmanifesto, cyborgs, film, Humanities, Religion, religionandtheology, Research, robots, sci-fi, Sociology, startrek, technology, terminator, theology, and unnatural
Introduction
My name is Scott Midson and I'm in the third year of a PhD
in Religions & Theology (R&T). In my research, I look at how technology
changes the way that we think about ourselves. More specifically, I explore the
idea of ‘creation’, which is an important religious idea, and ask what it means
to re-create ourselves or to create things like robots.

In depth
I didn't always know I was going to be studying robots and
religion, though! Going back a few years, I came to university (at Manchester)
with an interest in the sociology of religion. I didn't study religion at
A-Level but was given a place on the ‘BA Religions & Theology (Religion
& Society)’ programme because of my interest in the subject. Here, I looked
more and more at ideas about technology and how new media technologies
influence our beliefs. I then took a year out and did some travelling, but when
I returned to the department as a postgraduate, I came across a very
interesting essay by Donna Haraway called ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’, and I loved it
so much that I ended up writing a PhD thesis on it!
In the essay, cyborgs are used as metaphors for the ways
that we interact with technology and how we cannot separate ourselves from the
technologies that we use everyday. Think about the technologies you use
everyday: could you live without your computer, for example? Or your mobile
phone? Or what if you had no access to a clock – how would this affect you and
society? We are cyborgs, the argument goes, because we live so closely with our
technologies.

But not everybody likes the idea that we are cyborgs. For
some people, there is a limit to how much we should embrace technology – think
here of dangerous robot-like cyborgs in ‘The Terminator’ or ‘Star Trek’. Or, imagine
that a new technology becomes available that would surgically implant your
phone in your body. Would you want it? Would it be any different to always
having your phone with you in your pocket?
A lot of people fear invasive technologies like this, and a
big part of my research is finding out why. This is where I link what I study
to religion: in Christian theology, humans are described as created in the
‘image of God’. Although what the ‘image of God’ means is unclear, there seems
to be a link between the ‘natural’ state of humans (i.e. when they were created
by God) and the use of ‘unnatural’ technologies. I thus question religious
ideas about the ‘natural’ human and the ‘image of God’ in order to look at how
we can use the cyborg metaphor better and not fear it so much.
Going further
One of the best things about what I study is how frequently
these themes and topics appear in popular culture. Most sci-fi films and books
make reference to how technology changes the human, and you’d be surprised at
how many of them involve religious and theological ideas in some way! If you’re
interested in this topic, then a good place to start exploring further is to
ask how technology is portrayed next time you watch a (sci-fi) film.
Other useful sources
to get you started are:
Charlie Brooker’s TV miniseries ‘Black Mirror’ (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/black-mirror/)
– all episodes are available online (but many do contain some shocking images
and offensive language)
I keep a research blog where I post intermittently on films,
programmes, and even billboards that catch my attention (http://scadhu.blogspot.co.uk) (I also
tweet some stuff about my research - @scadhu)
This ‘cyborg anthropology’ site (http://cyborganthropology.com/Main_Page)
gives a fairly good and accessible overview of the metaphor of the cyborg
If you’re interested more generally in the sort
of stuff we get up to in Religions & Theology at Manchester (we don’t all
want to be priests or vicars!), then check out this page (
http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/religionstheology/).
Alternatively, the Lincoln Theological Institute (LTI) page (
http://religionandcivilsociety.com/lti/)
shows some of the more specific work that some people in the department do. The
LTI is a think-tank that does its own projects but is connected to the
University of Manchester R&T department.