Liesbeth CorensApr 27, 2022

ah, an #introduction: I'm a historian of #earlymodern minorities, in particular focusing on mobility and record-keeping practices.

I've written and edited these volumes:
- Confessional mobility: https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198812432.001.0001/oso-9780198812432
- Archives & Information: https://britishacademy.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5871/bacad/9780197266250.001.0001/upso-9780197266250
- Social History of the Archive: https://academic.oup.com/past/issue/230/suppl_11?login=true

Confessional Mobility and English Catholics in Counter-Reformation Europe

"Confessional Mobility and English Catholics in Counter-Reformation Europe" published on by Oxford University Press.

Oxford Scholarship Online
Show threadLiesbeth Corens

Further #introduction, beyond my research: I'm a lecturer at the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London.

I'm also the Deputy EDI Lead there, and worried about student attendance at seminars this year. If colleagues elsewhere have good practice on how to ensure more engagement, please let me know -- our students seem to have disconnected their seminars from their assignments.

A QMUL colleague just published this, which sounds helpful: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/02633957221086879

Apr 27, 2022 at 6:04pmWeb
Show threadLiesbeth CorensApr 30, 2022

May is upon us! That's when the season of drinking spa waters started in the #earlymodern period: the mineral water was most efficacious in the summer months.

So, only in the Summer, the tiny town of Spa (current day Belgium) became an international hotspot, accommodating Protestants as well as Catholics. I wrote about the intriguing dynamics of that seasonal coexistence here:
https://academic.oup.com/past/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/pastj/gtab018/6520621

Seasonable Coexistence: Temporality, Health Care and Confessional Relations in Spa, C.1648–1740*

Abstract. This article adds a temporal dimension to our interpretation of confessional relations. While historians are increasingly attuned to the subtleties of

OUP Academic
Show threadLiesbeth CorensMay 2, 2022

oh, further #introduction: I'm also very interested in #ArchiveEmotions: acknowledging that doing research is an embodied, ethical, emotional endeavour and that that shapes what we search for and see.

I'm intrigued how little space we make for that in our formal publications; it's confined to coffee chats, social media, blogs, etc.

On the bird site #histodons had a great conversation about that: https://wakelet.com/wake/ad58e179-0f21-4b6a-8308-76317bc59364

Archive Emotions

Archives are sites of research and of thinking, and that comes with a lot of emotion.

Wakelet
Show threadIngmar LippertMay 2, 2022
@onslies hi, I would say, #STS is full of conversation about the role of embodied researchers, affect, etc. Does this fit to what you are thinking about?
Show threadLiesbeth CorensMay 2, 2022
@i_ngli That does resonate! I must check out the STS tag then! Thanks!
Show threadIngmar LippertMay 2, 2022
@onslies given I suspect not much #STS conversation in the fediverse yet, let me point re #affect #embodiment to http://www.tecnoscienza.net/index.php/tsj/article/view/478 or https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0038026119831623 Elsewhere, colleagues and I am trying to foster a reflexive descriptive engagement with #sts research #methods, that should take of emotions, too - https://sciencetechnologystudies.journal.fi/issue/view/6812
Affective Engagement in Knowledgemaking | Cozza | TECNOSCIENZA: Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies

Affective Engagement in Knowledgemaking

Show threadLiesbeth CorensMay 4, 2022
@i_ngli oh, thank you SO much for this! I'll be eager to read!
Show threadDr. Jessica Wranosky, Ph.D.Oct 29, 2022
@onslies oh yes, very much.
Show threadDr Alison MccandlishNov 4, 2022
@onslies thank you for sharing this. I love #archives and yes, searching and finding can be quite emotional (not finding, too.. alongside serendipitous glances and intriguing moments which take you by surprise). Being face to face with real items, and finally connecting dots of data on a screen .. nothing like it!
Show threadDr Kevin TennentNov 7, 2022
@onslies I absolutely agree - one of the lesser understood things about historical research is that you might find nothing - or too much to work with!
Show threadDonna LanclosApr 27, 2022
@onslies thank you for sharing that piece. I am working on revising a MS about student experiences during the pandemic, and this (esp the need for flexibility for engagement) chimes nicely
Show threadDonna LanclosApr 27, 2022
@onslies though in reading the conclusions I would quibble with some of the framing--I think I agree more with the "institutions need to spend time helping and preparing students" is more important than "students need to manage their time better" but maybe that's a question of emphasis rather than real disagreement
Show threadLiesbeth CorensApr 27, 2022

@DonnaLanclos glad it's already proving useful!

And yes, I see what you mean. Though I also think it's interconnected and particularly inspired by the specific situation at QMUL: a very large proportion of our students have jobs (working sometimes 20 hours a week): that time management is more about juggling responsibilities & formulating mitigations than about 'you shouldn't be on social media that much'.

Show threadDonna LanclosApr 27, 2022
@onslies sure! I think the insight about "we need to help them with timetabling" could usefully be accompanied by "we need to offer classes at more convenient times" too.
Show threadJames RentonApr 30, 2022
@onslies Interesting to hear about the seminar/assignment disconnect at QM. I have been teaching online this year, & saw a similar thing in semester 2. Very different experience in semester 1. My students ran an online conference as part of their class (but with no assignment or credit involved) in both semesters, which was a big success. In both semesters, I found that non-attendance was due to specific issues, exacerbated or caused by the pandemic, & 1 2 1 sessions helped