Goodbye to the humanities at Sunderland University

We are saddened by recent news of cuts to #humanities courses at University of Sunderland. Researchers in history, languages, politics at #Sunderland have been great supporters of the festival, champions of their disciplines and advocates for the region https://t.co/55RiCNdLAk

— Being Human festival (@BeingHumanFest) January 22, 2020

JOINT STATEMENT: "@PolStudiesAssoc, @UACES and @MYBISA are dismayed at the decision of @sunderlanduni to close its teaching and research programmes in Politics, History and Modern Languages."https://t.co/WmQ1JjxbwK

— The Political Studies Association (@PolStudiesAssoc) January 22, 2020

Just call me Dave

In a special edition of the Journal of Language and Politics which she guest-edited, Professor Angela Smith has published an article which shows how male politicians can draw on performances of masculinity to appeal to voters. Angela uses former UK Prime Minister David Cameron as an example of how performances of masculinity interact with the opportunistic use of populist forms of political engagement. She argues that while Cameron’s performances of populism are often situated in compatible policy initiatives such as the “big society”, we can also identify a more sustained deployment of masculine discourse in “performances” of alignment with the people. Angela shows how these gendered performances of political leaders mirror changes in society, while exploring how they can also be politically hazardous.

'Just call me Dave': David Cameron’s perilous populist status.' Journal of Language and Politics (Published online: 15 Jan 2020), 1–20.

The semiotics of British butter in the context of Brexit

Professor Angela Smith has recently given a paper at the 6th FoodKom seminar in Stockholm. She considered the semiotics of butter packaging in the British context, to explore how national identity is represented. Angela argued that since 2016 national identity has become a central theme in the packing of British butter, whether this is a supermarket own brand, or a leading dairy producer.  The absence of cows in this packaging is part of a long-running semiotic practice that seems to relate to the industrialisation of the dairy industry in Britain, but the raising of national symbols seems triggered by the threat to the UK dairy industry that Brexit embodies.  Through the exploration of the changes made to one specific brand, Anchor, Angela showed how both of these strands have lead to the redesigned packaging we find now.