Throughout history people have pitted life in the city against the countryside, comparing urban corruption with an innocent rural idyll.Where does this comparison come from? What is its relevance today? And how do we resist these ideas to imagine a more equitable and sustainable future for town and country alike?Joining Joe and Ollie today is the best-selling author, activist and journalist George Monbiot. In this first of two episodes, we discuss the significance of contrasting town and the country, challenges of farming and agriculture for our environment, and the significance of the rural to England's national identity. George Monbiot's website: https://www.monbiot.com/The Bluesky thread we refer to: https://bsky.app/profile/georgemonbiot.bsky.social/post/3m4ulbf7hrs2gWe'll be back with the second part of this conversation in two weeks' time. See you then.---Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
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33:36
Death, Rebirth, and Scooby Doo (with Mark Norman)
Pumpkins, carved. Candles, lit. Units, absolute. Welcome to a special Halloween bonus podcast by The Museum of English Rural Afterlife.This time, ghosts Ollie and Joe welcome fiend-of-the-show Mark Norman (author, host of the Folklore Podcast, and founding curator of the Folklore Library and Archive) for a candle-lit walk through the history of Halloween. Join us as we cycle through the origins of Halloween, the challenges of collecting folklore (and intangible cultural heritage), the crossovers between the conventionally spooky and the rural, and what Scooby Doo can teach us about all these, and more.Listen now — if you dare! And should you brave our audio feast to its final course, please remember to leave us a glowing review praising how scary and charming we are.Also, politely ask your neighbour to remove that garlic from their front porch. It’s, um, causing quite the stench, and our visitors are starting to complain.Listen to the Folklore Podcast: https://www.thefolklorepodcast.com/---Special thanks to Kevin MacLeod for the recording of J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.---Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
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51:47
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51:47
Queer Rural Lives: Love Letters and Farm Papers (with Tim Jerrome)
In our last episode, Tim Jerrome (now, University of Brighton; previously, The MERL) shared with Joe and Ollie how he's using The MERL archives to research queer lives and same-sex relationships in England's rural past.Today, Tim shares examples of the stories and relationships that he's been able to trace so far. We talk about the challenges of piecing together people's lives from fragmentary and coded evidence, the difficulties of applying categories to relationships that far predate modern terminology, and the issues of encountering problematic queer relationships and representing them for modern audiences.Please note this episode contains references to homophobia and problematic relationships. Listener discretion is advised.---Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
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37:56
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37:56
Queer Rural Lives: Searching the Archives (with Tim Jerrome)
Queer histories of England have predominantly focused on the country's urban centres and cities - especially London. Yet queer and same-sex relationships have always existed throughout English life. Rural England is no exception.In the first of two podcasts, Joe and Ollie welcome onto Absolute Units former MERL colleague Tim Jerrome (University of Brighton), whose PhD explores the history of same-sex relationships in rural England.Learn about the challenges of finding queer histories in farm archives, the issues of archivist objectivity, and how museums can develop their practices to better surface and represent stories and relationships that were hidden in the past.Relevant links:Horseman's Word: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2021/03/horsemans-word-secret-society-horse-wizards/The Tractor Whisperers: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2021/04/tractor-whisperers/Queer Constellations: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/online-exhibitions/queer-constellations-histories-rural-gay-men/Queer Constellations (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxCUMyOGc9w---Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
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Rural Riots, Raves, and Robin Hood (with Katrina Navickas)
Throughout modern English history, people have protested against the movements to enclose and limit access to green spaces.Their reasons have varied dramatically – from deadly agricultural protests like the Swing Riots, to 90s raves, and druids campaigning for access to Stonehenge. Yet each moment of resistance gives us new insight into the complex and contested relationships we have with the world around us.In this episode, we continue our conversation with Katrina Navickas (Professor of History at the University of Hertfordshire) to explore the modern history of contesting the commons, ahead of the release of Katrina’s upcoming book, Contested Commons.Pre-order Contested Commons by Katrina Navickas: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/contested-commons--Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
The Museum of English Rural Life podcast. We're exploring the fascinating, surprising, and moving backstories of our collections, to tell the story of the English countryside.
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