Northern Peripheries: An Interdisciplinary Network

In the UK, northern regions are often distinguished by reputations (and occasional realities) of harsh climate, emptiness, atrophy (both social and economic) and disjunction (both geographically and relationally) from centralised nodes of power. Imaginings such as these have been further narrated, and circulated throughout diverse forms of political and cultural representation; with characteristics of insularity and pre- or anti-modern 'otherness' - often synonymous with the (primitive, mythical) past - generally prevailing.

In an attempt to counter such readings, this proposal, by way of marked contrast, contends that northern regions can be more positively perceived as hybrid, generative and transgressive. These are properties both constructed by and emergent through these regions' implication in multiple and heterogeneous networks; networks that are, at once, local and global, transcultural and transnational, and which work collectively to enhance more positive narratives and performances of place and locality. Indeed, the proposal's stated aim - of forging a vibrant interdisciplinary network focusing on historical, present and future representations and practices in relation to a range of sites, including specific sections of the English-Scottish border, and the island locations of Lindisfarne, Skye, Orkney and Shetland - turns on an understanding of these sites as performative and relational; as continuously reforming 'collective' creations. Hence, the Network's concern lies not with the reading of these sites as fixed entities, but as emergent through social interaction and embodiment. As such, it promises to uncover important new knowledge of value and relevance to the academics, communities and policy-makers constituting the network (all of whom are currently immersed in debates relevant to the planned research), and others in similar geographical and relational situations, including those residing on the northern margins of Europe.

Indeed, it is with northern regions more generally in mind that the two-day conference, 'Northern peripheries now' will, in particular, bear witness to important international (comparative) perspectives on the status of the UK's 'Northern Peripheries', both from distinguished academics and from various of the public, private and third sector organisations enrolled in the wider workshop events. Lead by appropriate network members and focussed around key research themes - including, 'Land and Language', 'Transcultural and transnational northern peripheries' and 'Reframing northern spaces' - each will comprise presentations and group discussion; screenings, exhibitions and installations; and visits to archives and sites specially selected for collaborative research and practice.

In different ways, each of the above-cited elements promises to support and underpin the Network's main promised outputs: a special edition of the international peer-reviewed journal Visual Studies; an interdisciplinary anthology of essays co-edited by Holt and McClanahan on behalf of Edinburgh University Press; a two-day conference - Northern Peripheries Now - and the Network-curated exhibition - The Journey North - whose formal launch the conference will additionally mark and celebrate; and the Network's dedicated website.

Given current debates over local, regional and national governance, devolution and citizenship, heritage and identity, as well as cultural and environmental sustainability, the distinctive interests and concerns of this Network will be of interest not only to academics, but to a wide range of 'non-academic' stakeholders. Efforts in respect of non-academic outreach and engagement will therefore occur at all stages of the Networking process, and indeed infuse many of the approaches to academic dissemination and interaction outlined in the Academic Beneficiaries section; key aspects of which are summarised below. First, a special edition of the international peer-reviewed journal Visual Studies will feature a range of historical and theoretical perspectives on the UK 'North'. Additionally spliced with the voices and ideas of the Network's non-academic contributors, these will particularly stress visual arts' role in delineating and reframing peripheral spaces as microcosms of positive (social, political and environmental) change, in particular.

A similar blend of non-academic voices will be brought to bear in the Network's second main output, an interdisciplinary anthology of essays co-edited by Holt and McClanahan on behalf of Edinburgh University Press, to whom a proposal will shortly be tendered. Constituted, on the one hand, from a series of essays focussed on the scholarly insights and perspectives to which the various workshop (and other) events will give rise, and on the other from 'artist pages' and profiles, this will present and contextualise just some of the representations and (visual arts) practices both inspired by, and further resolving, the Network's conceptualisations of peripheral (northern) landscapes and sites.

Contributions to this anthology will be honed at the Network's third main output, the two-day conference, Northern Peripheries Now. Extending a series of dialogues first initiated at the Northumbria-hosted conference, Northernness: Ideas and Images of North in Visual Culture (2009), this will give a complementary emphasis to international and comparative perspectives on the status of the UK's 'Northern Peripheries' - both from distinguished academics and from different of the Network's public, private and third sector subscribers (e.g. National Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, and Archaeology Scotland).

It will also provide the ideal forum in which to launch the Network-curated exhibition, The Journey North - for which separate Arts Council and Creative Scotland funding is to be sought (both for its physical and online manifestations) during the award period - and that of the accompanying catalogue, the Network's fifth key out. Like the planned anthology, this will profile the creative practice of artists contributing to the exhibition and, where appropriate, previous workshop events. The depth and range of the potential pathways to impact is such that the applicants will, at all times, coordinate closely with their respective institutions' press and communications offices to devise a series of press releases and related articles teasing out the implications of the arguments presented for popular discourse. These, together with separate working papers and research summaries, as well as images and recordings taken from each of the planned events will be made freely available on the Network's dedicated website, a resource that will also host and facilitate 'blog'-type discussions amongst and across Network members and relevant publics and stakeholders. Linked, in turn, to various social networking and new media platforms (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), the website's coordinates will be circulated through a multitude of online networks; networks through which localised communities of interest will also be recruited to those aspects of the events (including film screenings, installations and site visits) made accessible to public audiences.