Prof Anne-Marie Evans, Dr Elodie Duché, and Dr Brendan Paddison are proud to launch the Women of York film, which commemorates and celebrates the way women have impacted our city.
This is the world premiere of this brand new short film about the history of women in York, made in collaboration with the Yorkshire Film Archive. The event will include a screening, a short panel discussion, and will be followed by a wine reception. Non-alcoholic drinks available.
Witch; sorceress; fairy; fay; goddess? Magical women in the literature of the fifteenth century and today. De Grey Lecture Theatre, Thursday 5th December, 6pm-8pm. Via Events.
The annual Words Matter lecture is one of the highlights of the English Literature year here at York St John University. This year, Dr Zoë Enstone presents her research on the magical women of fifteenth-century literature and their ongoing impact on contemporary culture.
As modern readers, we are often familiar with the tropes of Arthurian romance such as brave knights, damsels in distress, wise wizards, and dragons to be slain, many of which have been reshaped over centuries into fairy tales or children’s literature. However, the medieval romances themselves were often much more complicated than these aspects would suggest and offer a fascinating glimpse into the social and political concerns of a tumultuous historical period.
Zoë explores the developments of these Arthurian romances, which often featured magical women who were powerful, autonomous, and sometimes threatening figures, acting in ways that challenged the ideals of the court. She examines whether these portrayals reflect broader anxieties within an evolving Christian context, including the rising concerns around witchcraft and magic. Words really do matter, as the interplay of traditions and motivations saw these women shifting between categorisations like goddess, fairy and witch. A mediaevalist by backround, Zoë is nevertheless interested in the ways these works have influenced the more recent literature. In her lecture she introduces the rise of ‘witcherature’ and explores the renewed interest in the magical.
Dr Zoë Enstone is Associate Professor of English Literature and Associate Head of School for English Literature, specialising in medieval literature and medievalism. She has previously published on Melusine and magical women of the later romances and is currently working on a book on Morgan le Fay. More broadly, she’s interested in the ongoing influence of the medieval and has a forthcoming chapter on the ghost story tradition. She is the co-lead of the Interdisciplinary Witches Research Group here at York St John (https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/research/interdisciplinary-witches/).
For her third year dissertation, Hollie Whittle explored representations of sexuality, identity and trauma in Keisha the Sket by Jade L.B. and Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams. The following extract is from her section on “code-switching”. Hollie is currently studying for her PGCE at York St John University.
From the 2000’s Black British culture in literary texts increased visibility. Novels written by young black writers meant that young black readers could relate and recognise themselves through fictional characters. The fictional icon at the forefront of Black girl history is that of Keisha the Sket (KTS), written by 13-year-old Jade L.B in 2005. Completely unaware of her impact, Jade began her chapters on Piczo, and became a naughties viral sensation. As stated by Jade in the 2021 published version, it is “a tale of this black girl from inner-city London, and the politics that governed her womanhood and sexuality” (2). […] With its use of slang and ebonics , KTS spoke to black teenage London youths. Carty-Williams was highly inspired by Jade L. B’s work when becoming a writer, describing the story as an “entry point to understanding what sex was” as a teenager and “where (I) understood the perceived value of the Black female body” (323).
The act of code-switching is when “a speaker moves according to context” (Rob Drummond, 642). The language that the younger characters in Queenie and KTS use is known as “Jafaican”, different from both the patois spoken by their family and the language they use outside of their communities. “Jafaican” is a combination “of two crucial (yet incorrect) assumptions about this kind of language”, known as “Jamaican-ness” and “fakeness”. Jafaican was first identified in 2006 (Kerswill, 2014), but was renamed as Multicultural London English (MLE) through Mohammed Emwazi. MLE has created a stir of negative comments by older generations, believing that youths are “literally talking their way into unemployment” (Harding, 2013).
Through the different generations in the novel Carty-Williams explores the variety of experiences within Queenie’s family. Queenie’s grandparents identify less as “Black-British” as they had grown up in Jamaica, compared to Queenie and her mother who grew up in the UK. Queenie’s stepfather, Roy, calls Queenie, who works in the primarily white publishing industry, a “bounty”, suggesting that she is “white on the inside” and “brown on the outside” (297) as Carty-Williams represents Queenie as having a literary ‘formal’ way of speaking. This insult may be also to do with the white settings that she is found in, as Queenie and other young black women navigate a very different environment from previous generations.
Keisha’s world is very small when referring to location, which emphasises the use of MLE, and code-switching seems to be non-existent in her small life of being at school, home and other local youths’ houses. Queenie understands the act of code-switching due to the area that she grew up in, along with her friends and family despite not speaking it herself. Queenie expresses the frustrations of code-switching in order to remain more ‘professional’ in the workplace due to the negative connotations with MLE. Queenie’s friend, Kyazike, converses with Queenie: “Fam, did you hear how I have to switch up my voice out there? The new manager, some prissy white woman, has told me that I need speak ‘better’. Doesn’t want me to ‘intimidate customers’. Can you believe that? The only person I’m intimidating is her, fam” (360). Despite Kyazike’s well-paid job in a bank and hard work, she has to code-switch in order to match her location and the people that she is surrounded by.
Ironically, the inspiration for Queenie would have the original MLE of the title, Keisha Da Sket, later replaced to Keisha ‘the’ Sket when picked up by a mainstream publisher, Penguin. In the original KTS chapters Jade L.B uses constant MLE for all the characters speech and Keisha’s narration, along with a 2000’s text style of writing such as “Ne wayz cum 2 ma yrd in lyk half an hour?” (22). The original KTS chapters created a niche piece of cultural fiction for a targeted audience which is based of life events of youths that Jade L.B was surrounded by. In Keisha Revisited Jade still includes MLE slang in the characters speech, but uses standard English in the narrative. This new publication not only creates an easier understanding to wider audiences, but, the author feels, it also gives more humanity; “Revisiting the text now, attempting accountability and acknowledging my internalised misogynoir is central to embracing and feeling some pride in my role in creating a cultural work that a generation enjoyed” (14).
Due to Keisha the Sket being such a locally popular literary piece from inner-city London, and not aimed for audiences outside that region, there is no definition as to what certain words or phrases mean. Queenie does discuss how the black working-class community area that she grew up in, has become a whiter liberal area that has had small black businesses’ taken over; The sense of community that Queenie had felt as a child has left her when she comes back to visit it when she feels a sense of loss in her own identity.
The beauty in the writings of Black-British writers is that there is always a sense of uncertainty when referring to identity, place and belonging, as woman, working-class and non-white. Candice Carty-Williams and Jade L.B have written about where they grew up and what and where they find familiarity, which is a comfort for readers who might find relation to it but is also an insight for readers that do not. These novels are not meant to generalise the Black-British experience, but to embrace the topics that are very real within communities.
Bibliography
Carty–Williams, Candice. Queenie, 2019
Drummond, Rob. (2017) “(Mis)interpreting urban youth language: white kids sounding black?” Journal of Youth Studies, 20:5, 640-660, DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2016.1260692
Harding, Nick. 2013.“Why Are So Many Middle-class Children Speaking in Jamaican Patois? A Father of an 11-year-old Girl Laments a Baffling Trend.” Daily Mail, October 11
Kerswill, Paul (2014) “The objectification of ‘Jafaican’:the discoursal embedding of Multicultural London English in the British media.” In The Media and Sociolinguistic Change, edited by Jannis Androutsopoulos. Berlin: De Gruyter, 428–455.
This year for Black History Month York St John University are hosting a range of events. These are free events, open to the YSJ community and the public. Many of these are hybrid events, accessible in person or online.
We launch the events on Monday 14th October with Celebrating Black Excellence: Remembering the past, honouring the present, and shaping the future. This in-person event invites us to reflect on the rich heritage and legacy of Black culture, while also embracing the innovation, creativity, and resilience that will drive us forward. View an exhibition of Black heroes of the past and present by Nduka Omeife, an artist local to York. Enjoy music, dance, fashion and poetry.
Next on Tuesday 15th October is Discussing Decolonisation: A guest lecture by Dr John Narayan (KCL), a hybrid event. Dr Narayan’s lecture, Survival Pending Revolution: The Revolutionary Theory of the Black Panther Party. This lecture argues that Black Panther leader Huey P.Newton’s orientation of the BPP away from armed insurrection and towards survival pending revolution was not simply a pragmatic choice of strategy, but rather based on a theorization of what he dubbed reactionary intercommunalism. Come along to find out more.
We end the month on Wednesday 30th October with a talk by Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin. She was previously the chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and was the first black woman to become a Bishop in Britain. An honorary graduate of York St John University, she will be talking about ‘The Church’s Role in Challenging Racism in the Public Square’.
Find out about these and many more events on our YSJ Events Page.
If you would like to review any events or books for the blog, please get in touch with us.
Victoria Walpole is one of our artist liaisons on the Literature at Work module. This week she has been working with our visiting performers from the Ivano-Frankivsk Theatre Company in Ukraine. Victoria tells us more.
I hear that, despite the challenges of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ivano-Frankivsk Theatre Company has continued to showcase plays and even created a humanitarian logistics centre called “Movement of Resistance – Movement of Help” to support those displaced by the war and soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ivano-Frankivsk Theatre Company has a reputation for producing creative and innovative shows that have established its place in the Ukrainian cultural world, having always been acclaimed for its unprecedented creative “explosions”, highlighting its active artistic position in culture.
This highly respected theatre company has an exceptional cast of star actors, including Ivan Blindar and Mariia Stopnyk, who have joined us this week on our campus. Ivan and Mariia have been working closely with the York International Shakespeare Festival to create an original piece of work in collaboration with volunteer actors from and around York. These include Ukrainian performers who are currently living here.
For the past week, the actors have been hard at work in rehearsals, creating and practising pieces to perform on the first weekend of the festival. The pieces they have created combine Shakespeare’s incredible plays with the contemporary. They blend Ukrainian and English culture to create compelling pieces that will astound audiences. Working alongside Ivan and Mariia has been a privilege and a fun experience for all involved. Their love and passion for their work is reflected in their performances, and it has been a pleasure to be alongside them during the creative process. Through the use of imaginative warm-up exercises and sonnet performances, Phillip Parr has been able to direct the creative process to mould a stunning performance that beautifully symbolises the collaboration between the Ivano-Frankivsk theatre and the festival. Part of this process is making sure everyone who volunteered has a voice in what they want to give and take from the final performance.
During the rehearsals, local artist Lynne O’Dowd has been diligently capturing the dedication and momentous efforts of everyone involved through her paintings. These paintings will be part of the final performance, highlighting the creativity and hard work that has gone into bringing this production to life.
This performance promises to be incredibly imaginative and powerful, so you will not want to miss this! Everyone involved has put their heart and soul into creating a beautiful piece to perform, making these performances even more special. Creating a performance in such a short amount of time is a real feat of skill and everyone involved worked incredibly hard to make this possible.
When and where?
The event will be performed on Saturday the 20th of April at 2 pm and 7.30pm in the York St John Creative Centre Auditorium as part of the York International Shakespeare Festival. Tickets are only £15 at full price, with students and concessions only paying £5.
When buying tickets also look out for and consider buying a Pass It On Ticket which we can offer to community members who may not otherwise be able to attend as we want to make it possible for as many members of the community to come to festival performances!
To buy tickets and or more information about the York International Shakespeare Festival you can go to its website.
