CRASSH Distilled

Description

Part of  Cambridge University's first Festival of Ideas.

An afternoon of drop-in sessions, organised by members of the Centre's graduate/faculty research groups, showcasing topical and relevant humanities research.  

ALL WELCOME. No registration required (although groups of 10 or more should email to let us know they're coming).

Sessions will last about 40 minutes each. 

2.00 – 2.45  SOUND

Seamless, Fine Tuned and In  Control? Investigating the World of IPod Users

Michael Bull (Univ of Sussex) & Intermedia Research Group show how tuning in is becoming the new tuning out

For the first time in history, the majority of urban  citizens possess the communication technology to create their own private mobile auditory world wherever they go, either through  the  use  of  MP3  devices  such  as the Apple  iPod  or through  their  mobile  phones. Michael Bull  will   be discussing  the  social  significance and  meaning  of  the  use  of  these technologies  by  drawing upon his recent globally-based research  of iPod  users.

2.45 – 3.30 STUFF

A Sustainable Future?

As the global financial world collapses, can we afford to ask whether business can be socially fair and environmentally sustainable?  Can we afford not to?

Former Hedge  Fund Manager and co-organiser of the Business and Society Research Group, Mishko Hansen, leads a discussion about current and longer term tensions in the global economy.  Using extracts from the short video The Story of Stuff, he will ask:

•    Is our current system of producing and consuming products sustainable?

•    Are the concerns we hear about the exploitation of the environment and  of low wage workers overblown?

•    Is there an alternative? What can we do to get there?

•    How might these issues affect the educational choices and career options for young people in England today?

3.30 – 4.15pm SEX

Teenage Pregnancy: are we bovvered?

FACTS: 

• In the UK, 39,800 girls under 18 become pregnant every year, with 7473 aged under seventeen
• For most, a teenage pregnancy puts an end to education and one-fifth of all teenage mothers leave school at 15 (or sometimes even younger)
• The health impacts on teenage parents and their children include higher rates of premature births and more frequent admissions to hospital

The way this issue is covered in the media, from stories about Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy, to reactions to popular films such as Juno, could lead to the conclusion that there's an epidemic of kids having kids.  What's the true scale of this problem and is it even a problem? Join this debate, led by Dr Francesca Moore of the Cambridge Interdisciplinary Reproduction group, where the key issues about teenage pregnancy today will be aired. Beginning with an overview of the facts about teenage pregnancy, the session will progress to an open discussion about the causes of this phenomenon, the possible solutions and a critical review of government policy.

4.15- 5pm SPORTS

Making the Athletic Body: How to write a history of Sports Medicine

Vanessa Heggie, a historian in the Department of History & Philosophy of Science, will talk about her most recent project – a history of sports medicine in Britain. She will use her work to show what it is that historians do, and how important it is to ask the right questions about the past. Her work addresses problems we face today, including the obesity epidemic and the cost of the 2012 London Olympics. After a short talk she will invite questions and discussion about what history can teach us about current challenges in sport, health and medicine.