Walking Heritage: ghost pub crawl

A public walk with readings as part of the Walking Heritage project, incorporating psychogeographical approaches to heritage

Walking Heritage: Not the blue plaque tour of Sandwich

A self-guided alternative heritage trail. Part of the Walking Heritage project, incorporating psychogeographical approaches to heritage

Thicket

Creative writing. A short story drawing on the traditions of botanical horror and folk horror. Published in Neon Magazine's 'Horror' edition, Issue 51

Don't walk that way: why heritage sites need psychogeography

By their nature, heritage sites often require constraints and controls on pedestrian access. Yet the freedoms of walking – and the attendant pleasures of pausing, ruminating, peering, questioning, imagining and narrating – are vital to the public experience of these sites. In this paper I will discuss how psychogeographical approaches, particularly those embraced by practitioners of counter tourism (Joel Henry, Phil Smith, Wrights&Sites), can be used to ameliorate issues of access and develop imaginative responses to physical and less tangible heritage. Since 2015 I have been developing the use of creative and attentive walking practices at heritage sites from the perspective of a psychogeographer and curious visitor, rather than a member of the archaeological community. This includes work with English Heritage at sites in East Kent, an HLF-funded project ‘Walking Heritage’ (2016), and ‘O what we ben! And what we come to!’, an interactive walking project mapping post-apocalyptic literary landscapes onto medieval and Roman sites in Canterbury (Being Human Festival 2017). Drawing on these case studies, I will discuss how walking with psychogeographical attitude can be encouraged, creating playful experiences and an enriched engagement with heritage places and spaces

Women Who Walk

Women Who Walk is a new network for women who use walking in their creative or academic practice. This short paper will outline the network’s aims and current developments within the context of the Peregrinations Walking and Landscape Research Group. There is good reason to believe that women who walk alone are more vulnerable than men who do so (Solnit: Wanderlust, 2001). Will Self refers disparagingly to the psychogeographic fraternity of middle-aged men in Gore-Tex (Self: Psychogeography, 2007). Women who walk in this way, in Gore-Tex or otherwise, are behaving outside societal norms, putting one foot in front of another, asserting independence. The WWW network seeks to highlight and connect women engaged in walking-related practice and research, promote their work and share opportunities and projects within a supportive community. Established following a tentative foray on Twitter in November 2015, Women Who Walk has grown to a membership of over 120 walking artists, writers, psychogeographers, site-specific performers and academics (as of Feb 2016). Although many members are based in the UK, the network includes women from Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, Egypt and Argentina. www.women-who-walk.org #womenwhowalkne

Psycho geography: the monstrous everyday

Text of the paper delivered at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities conference, May 2018

Walking backwards: psychogeographical approaches to heritage

Since its Situationist origins in Paris, psychogeography has been considered a primarily urban pursuit. But psychogeographical approaches can easily be extended to walking in rural and semi-rural areas, where constraints and controls on pedestrian access abound. In this paper I will discuss how psychogeographical practices can be adapted to enhance and alter our experience of rural place, and in particular, sites of historical interest. I will explore how the Situationist-inspired movements Experimental Tourism (Joel Henry), Mythogeography and Counter-Tourism (Phil Smith) react against the packaging of heritage sites and the sanitising effects of the heritage industry. As a ‘lay’ enthusiast, outside the archaeological community, I am keen to explore what creative interpretation can bring to the experience of heritage sites. How readily can visitors apply the advice of alternative site guides, such as Wrights & Sites A Mis-Guide to anywhere (Hodge et al. 2006) and Counter-Tourism: a handbook (Smith 2012)? How can one look beyond prescribed readings of heritage sites without rejecting expert knowledge? In light of these issues, I will discuss how I am currently developing my own ‘attentive walking’ practise-based research into heritage projects in Kent, including work with English Heritage sites and volunteers

Walkshop and soundshot – a dérive and participatory performance

How can form be used to represent or respond to place? This walkshop and soundshot brings together individual, interpretive experience with a performance-based, participatory approach to written text. This exercise has been developed by the author from ice-breaker workshops with writers who have no previous experience of sharing their creative work. The article provides a theoretical framework for the exercise, with an account of its use at A Forum on the Art of Participation, University of Kent, May 2016

The Green Children of Woolpit: a weird allegory of isolation, otherness and belonging

This performance paper introduces the tale of the Green Children of Woolpit and contextualises the author's own creative retelling, 'Green is the colour' (2021). The paper considers the earliest written accounts in the chronicles of William of Newburgh and Ralph of Coggeshall, and the relationship between these sources, contemporary retellings, and multiple theories about the children's origins, from the scientific to the speculative, with reference to the scholarship of John Clark. The presentation considers ‘Green is the colour’ as a piece of lockdown literature, exploring liminality, thresholds and portals, reduced social contact and heightened awareness of the non-human

Tarot reading for the end times

Experimental prose poem drawing on traditions of divination and dystopian literature. Published in 'Lune: the journal of literary misrule', 'Disaster' edition, online