Liverpool John Moores University to host My life in advertising event for inaugural Humanities Festival

Researchers and public explore what it means to be human

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) is hosting an event to participate in Being Human, the UK’s first national festival of the humanities. LJMU’s Dr David Clampin, who is a senior lecturer in History, will be hosting a series of events My life in advertising to encourage a variety of audiences to extend and expand the life of historic advertising. This has been made possible by a grant from the festival organisers, the School of Advanced Study, University of London, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy.

My life in advertising will enhance the visibility of humanities and generate new opportunities for the public to engage with academic research. Each event has been designed to raise awareness of historic advertising and to highlight the value and relevance of humanities research to contemporary culture. Expected audiences include therapists, carers, medical practitioners, and people working in the field of memory disorders, secondary school teachers, business audiences and the general public.

Dr David Clampin explains: “ My life in advertising is a challenge to the public to think of advertising beyond the clutter and noise that it is frequently accused of bringing into everyday life, to consider the legacy of those advertisers who in the past sought to capture the moment and reflect the lives of the people they pursued.

“We all appreciate the fond nostalgia experienced when encountering a brand or product from our past, and can readily appreciate how other memories and recollections are triggered. ’My life in advertising' seeks to explore some of those effects in a more structured fashion and consider other uses of historic advertising today.”

Following a successful application, LJMU has been awarded funding to hold the event during Being Human festival week, 15 – 23 November 2014. The My life in advertising event will champion the excellence of humanities research being undertaken in Merseyside and help to demonstrate the vitality and relevance of this today.

Selected from over 100 applications, the grant will help the University bring together researchers and the local public to engage with their own interpretation of the humanities. The My life in advertising event will be part of a national programme of activities which aim to inform, extend and ignite contemporary thinking and imagination around the humanities. 

Currently in its first year, Being Human is led by the School of Advanced Study in participation with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy with the participation of arts and cultural organisations and universities across the UK.

The festival programme will focus on activities that make humanities research accessible to the general public and demonstrate the role of the humanities in the cultural, intellectual, political and social life of the UK.

Thirty-six grants have been awarded to universities and arts and cultural organisations across the UK to participate in the nine days of festival events taking place across the UK, from Truro to Orkney, Swansea to Belfast and Norwich to Liverpool.

ENDS

Images used:

Picture Post 1: Though the government in their early propaganda tried to paper over the cracks of the stresses and strains of being at war, advertisers often present a much more realistic, if not brutal, impression (source: 'Picture Post', 27 January 1940, p. 8).

Picture Post 2: Whilst the advertiser here tries to inject a bit of humour, it nevertheless highlights the austerities of wartime life (source: 'Picture Post', 13 April 1940, p. 14).

Picture Post 3: This is a fascinating and very distinctively British impression of wartime masculinity, so aptly described by Sonya Rose as 'temperate heroes' (source: 'Picture Post', 19 February 1944, p. 28).

Find out more about the festival at www.beinghumanfestival.org and follow the festival on Twitter at @BeingHumanFest

If you are a journalist and require further information on Being Human, please contact:

Rebecca Law at Bray Leino

+44 (0)117 971 1173 / rlaw@brayleino.co.uk

For all other festival enquiries, please contact:

Annett Seifert, Communications and External Relations

School of Advanced Study, University of London

+44 (0)20 7862 8696 / annett.seifert@sas.ac.uk

For LJMU event enquiries, please contact:

Clare Coombes, Press and Publications Officer

Liverpool John Moores University

0151 231 3004 / press@ljmu.ac.uk

Notes to Editors

1. Being Human: A festival of the humanities 15-23 November 2014

What does it mean to be human? How do we understand ourselves, our relationship to others and our place in nature? For centuries the humanities have addressed these questions. Artists, writers, philosophers, theologians and historians have considered who we are, how we live and what we value most. But are these long-standing questions changing in 2014? We are more connected than ever, yet we spend more time with smart phones and computers than face to face. The world is becoming smaller, yet the digital information we can access and store, even about ourselves, is vast and growing. Developments in science and technology are moving fast, challenging our understanding of the self and society. What sense can we make of these changes and what challenges do we face? We need the humanities more than ever to help us address these issues and provide the means to question, interpret and explain the human predicament.

The festival is held as part of the School of Advanced Study’s 20th anniversary celebrations and draws on the success of the 2013 King’s College Festival of the Humanities. Being Human will be the UK’s first national festival of the humanities. Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy, universities, arts and cultural organisations across the UK, it will demonstrate the value, vitality and relevance of the humanities in 2014. www.beinghumanfestival.org

1. The School of Advanced Study at the University of London is the UK’s national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities. The School brings together 10 prestigious research institutes to offer unparalleled academic opportunities, facilities and stimulation across a wide range of subject areas for the benefit of the national and international scholarly community. The member institutes of the School are the Institutes of Advanced Legal Studies, Classical Studies, Commonwealth Studies, English Studies, Historical Research, Latin American Studies, Modern Languages Research, Musical Research, Philosophy, and the Warburg Institute. The School also hosts a cross-disciplinary centre, the Human Rights Consortium, dedicated to the facilitation, promotion and dissemination of academic and policy work on human rights. www.sas.ac.uk

1. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funds world-class, independent researchers in a wide range of subjects: ancient history, modern dance, archaeology, digital content, philosophy, English literature, design, the creative and performing arts, and much more. This financial year the AHRC will spend approximately £98m to fund research and postgraduate training in collaboration with a number of partners. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK. www.ahrc.ac.uk

1. The British Academy is the UK’s national champion of the humanities and social sciences. As a Fellowship of distinguished scholars and researchers from all areas of the humanities and social sciences, it promotes these disciplines and facilitates the exchange of knowledge and ideas. It funds research across the UK and internationally, and seeks to raise understanding of some of the biggest challenges of our time through policy reports, forums, conferences, publications and public events. For more information, please visit www.britishacademy.ac.uk. Follow the British Academy on Twitter @britac_news.