CDAS Seminars

All events are free unless otherwise stated, and all are welcome.

Please email us at cdas@bath.ac.uk to let us know if you would like to attend.

See our past events section for details of past seminars

Coming seminars

18.05.12
Reflections on mass fatalities

CDAS seminars 2011-12

The remaining two seminars in the 2011/12 series will all take place on Friday mornings at the University of Bath. Sessions will usually start at 10am, with 3 speakers each giving a presentation and inviting discussion. Sessions usually end at 13.00

Reflections on Mass fatalities: Historical lessons and future planning  

18 May 2012
University of Bath, 3E 2.20  

This final seminar of 2011-12 will examine Mass Fatalities in terms of their historical, conceptual, and practical significance. Most Mass Fatality situations involve overlapping social, political, and technical concerns, all of which require immediate attention. The presentations for the seminar address these complex issues head on and look towards the past for understanding both present and future Mass Fatality events.

10.15:
Helen Frisby, University of the West of England
"The owl eke that of deth the bode bringeth": British funerary folklore before and after the Great War.

11.00:
Break

11.20:
Lucy Easthope, CDAS Associate, Univeristy of Bath
Learning from Disaster

12.05:
Maria M. Maclennan, ESRC CASE PhD Researcher
Forensic Jewellery Identification: A design-led approach to establishing identity in mass fatality incidents

12.50:
Final discussion

13.00:
Close

Please note the change of final speaker from that previously advertised.

Abstracts and biographies

Helen Frisby, University of the West of England
"The owl eke that of deth the bode bringeth": British funerary folklore before and after the Great War.

The Great War of 1914-18 undeniably hastened the modernisation of English culture and society in many profound, long-lasting ways. And while that conflict remained within living memory, it has seemed churlish to question this historical truism, lest one appear to be disputing the very real and terrible sacrifices made by so many. Since the 1990s, however, revisionist historians have begun to question this received version; in this paper I will show how the pages of Folklore Journal, and other contemporary publications in the field of folklore studies, are testament to the remarkable durability of popular funerary ritual and superstition, sometimes well into the interwar period. This paper will trace a selection of popular English funerary customs and beliefs from the 1840s, when W.J. Thoms (later a founding member of the Folklore Society) first coined the term ‘folklore’, up to the eve of the Second World War. Interwoven with this account will be a brief history of ‘folklore’ itself, including an assessment of what this material can – and cannot – contribute to the history of Mass Fatalities.

Helen Frisby (BA (Hons) Durham, 2000; MA Leeds, 2001) obtained her PhD on The Spiritual, Social and Emotional Significance of Death and Dying in Yorkshire, c.1840-c.1914 from the University of Leeds in 2009. She is presently an Associate Lecturer in History at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Helen speaks regularly on the history, folklore and material culture of death, dying and bereavement at national and international academic gatherings, as well as giving talks to the general public. She has undertaken consultancy work and appeared on national television. Helen is particularly interested in working with folklore and material/visual culture as sources of historical evidence, and with the concepts of tradition, popular culture and ‘history from below.’ Teaching interests centre on the development of Western culture, society and identity from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Great War, and particularly include the Renaissance, Reformation and European explorations. Helen’s most recent publication is ‘These horrid superstitions’: death and dying amongst the English ‘folk’, c.1840-c.1914’ in Marius Rotar and Adriana Teodorescu (eds), Dying and Death in 18th–21st Century Europe (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholar Press, 2011).

Maria M. Maclennan, ESRC CASE PhD Researcher
Forensic Jewellery Identification: A design-led approach to establishing identity in mass fatality incidents

The fluidity of our 21st century post-modern world has leant itself to a significant increase in mass fatalities incidents, meaning forensic experts have looked more frequently to innovative means of identification should traditional methods fail. Traditional forensic procedures such as DNA, fingerprinting and odontology are crucial weapons in establishing identity, however in recent years, it has come to light (through publicized stories of legal cases) that the ‘pure’ level of certainty associated with these critical methods has been seriously questioned, and doubt has subsequently been cast over their reliability. A need to rethink approaches to victim identity has been highlighted.

Jewellery has extensive personal, cultural and religious associations with identity and increasingly contributes to practices surrounding identification. This research draws on knowledge and experience from three areas - namely design, identity and forensics - as a means of developing new insight(s) into how the forensic process of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) can be enhanced through the development and adoption of an interdisciplinary approach - where design is a new addition within traditional forensic methodology. 

This seminar presentation aims to explore the value of jewellery as a design-led and human-centered means of establishing identity within forensic science, in a century where our individual personal identities are increasingly under attack from mass disasters and terrorist threats, unreliable and counterfeit identification, and technological and biometric initiatives.

Maria Maclennan is an award-winning contemporary Jewellery Designer, 'Forensic' Jeweller and Design Researcher at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of The University of Dundee. She is currently reading for an ESRC CASE PhD in Design in collaboration with the Institute for Capitalising on Creativity at The University of St. Andrews and the world-renowned Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at The University of Dundee.

Maria’s doctoral research into Forensic Jewellery Identification is primarily concerned with using design methods to explore how jewellery can be utilised to help establish identity within the forensic process of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI). Her other research interests include jewellery’s identification potential in homicides, crimes, forensic art, and in relation to new and emerging biometric technologies.

CDAS Seminars 2011-12

Again, half day seminars took place with both internal and external speakers.

Visit our past events pages for more details

CDAS Seminars 2010-2011

As in the previous year, seminars took place over half a day, with speakers primarily drawn from CDAS members, associates or PhD students, presenting aspects of their current or recent research. Each seminar had an overarching theme, this year the series was split into three sessions

1. The Dead Body and its Disposal
2. Dying/End of Life
3. Mourning and Memory

For further details on all speakers and abstracts from each seminar, visit our past events pages.

CDAS Seminars 2009-2010

We held three half-day seminars during the academic year 2009/10 in which staff and doctoral students at the university presented their ongoing research in the area of death and society. For details, visit our past events section.

CDAS Conference 2011

CDAS held its second annual conference on 25-26 June 2011, ‘Death & Dying in the Digital Age’. Details are avaialble on our past conferences page.

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