War Correspondents

At its outbreak, newspapers in the Allied and neutral democracies hoped to present vivid descriptions of the First World War. They were soon frustrated. Censorship obstructed the adventurous style of war reporting to which readers had grown accustomed. Belligerent governments wanted journalists to encourage enlistment and maintain home front morale. Many newspapers in Britain, France and America were content to behave as patriotic propagandists. All were constrained by rules and circumstances. War correspondents downplayed misery and extolled victory. Soldiers found their behavior hard to forgive. War reporting promoted the belief that newspapers could not be trusted to tell the truth

Iraq war body counts: reportage, photography, and fiction

This essay explores the representation of the Iraq War dead. There is, as yet, no official count of those killed in Iraq. US military policy established a moratorium on representing the American dead, meaning that any images became contested. This essay examines the debates around this fraught question as it emerges in newspaper reportage, photography, confrontational art, and the fiction of the war. It ends with an exploration of fiction by non-American writers Sinan Antoon, Saad Hossain, and Ahmed Saadawi, in whose work there appears an attempt to reinscribe the absent bodies of the Iraq War

'Why have the dead come back? The instance of photography

This essay examines how the critical theory of photography has, at least since Barthes and Sontag, developed a default position that is routinely suspicious of the political and aesthetic value of images of the dead, even as the archive of images of the dead continues to accumulate and to shock. Photographic theory seems to share the post-war assumptions that death has been eclipsed by modernity, sequestered away and rendered taboo. The project here is to give a sense of the array of photographic practice that exists in stark opposition to these assumptions, and indeed in the contemporary moment seems actively to stage an argument with the thesis of the 'eclipse of death'. It considers work ranging from Sally Mann and Luc Delahaye to the recent projects of Edgar Martins

Robotic vacuum evidence recovery for low yield samples overlooked post investigation

Prioritization during a criminal investigation is always the most challenging aspect for a crime scene investigator. For the purpose of not letting any biological evidence go undetected, research into different collection techniques is being investigated. Different types of collection techniques suitable for collecting all potential forensic evidence types were reviewed to determine the most efficient technique suitable at detecting minute amounts of biological material. Forensic Intelligence is also explored due to the importance of crime scene linking and the incorporation of current databases to assist criminal investigations. The main aim of this review is to demonstrate, that collecting all possible unnoticed biological material is very important, as even the most minute samples can help solve a criminal investigation. This is to be assessed using a robotic vacuum device, to ensure mass coverage of an area of interest

Hannah Gadsby: Celebrity Stand Up, Trauma, and the Meta Theatrics of Persona Construction

This essay examines the work of stand-up performer Hannah Gadsby in relation to persona, extending the conventional reach of persona studies to the realm of live performance and comedy. The author analyses Hannah Gadsby’s risky decision to kill off her widely adored comic persona in her 2017 show Nanette, replacing it with a persona that shot her to global celebrity and changed the power dynamics with her audiences. The essay investigates Gadsby’s contention that stand-up is bad for her mental health and is predicated on an abusive relationship with audiences. It considers her strategies of comic unmaking and remaking in the contexts of women working in a sexist industry within misogynist societies. It also interrogates Gadsby’s dramaturgies of foregrounding persona creation and the performative dialogic of ‘face’ or ‘mask.’ Gadsby’s postmodern deconstruction of her own comic artistry and her exposure of the limits of stand-up as a form are examined through a new concept of meta-persona

The introduction of ICT in fieldwork to enhance student learning

Report of a CELT project on supporting students through innovation and researchThe aim of the project was to introduce a dedicated ICT package into the fieldwork experience in order to enhance student learning in the field at a range of levels and in a number of subject areas. The field kit consists of a laptop computer, digital camera with multi-card reader, global positioning system (GPS), video camera, portable scanner and printer. The kit is kept in a waterproof portable case specifically for student fieldwork use (Plate 1). A digital microscope and video camera is also separately available. The students have been able to use the equipment in the field in order to produce supporting materials to enhance their fieldwork. For example the IT package has been used in conjunction with a data-logger on mapping equipment allowing maps to be printed in the field for detailed recording of field sites. Also the use of digital and video cameras has allowed students to take responsibility for identifying and recording aspects of fieldwork for their reports