Negotiating the Threshold: Borders, Boundaries and Doorways in Arts and Humanities Research

As funding bodies become increasingly focused on the value of research that is collaborative, interdisciplinary and socially relevant, today’s Arts and Humanities researchers face the challenge of actively pursuing projects that take them beyond the confines of their own discipline. In the process of going beyond, we cross thresholds that mark the borders between spaces. This movement beyond may take place on different levels: movement beyond one’s discipline into another; movement beyond academia into community; movement beyond socially accepted norms into new norms; movement beyond personal reflection into action. Movement beyond and into therefore demands that we make sense of what we are doing when we make the move. What precisely are the thresholds that we cross? What is their impact on us and on others before, after and as we move?

The aim of this summer’s TECHNE Congress is to engage with the fundamental challenge of how we, as Arts and Humanities researchers, make sense of the movement beyond – how we negotiate the threshold between spaces. The Congress will provide various spaces for conversations around the themes of borders, boundaries and doorways to encourage creative reflection on how we negotiate these thresholds. We will explore these themes from perspectives including the role of Arts and Humanities in today’s world; strategies for crossing borders and boundaries in the real world and in academia; the impact on identity when negotiating thresholds and when making the return; the breaking down of borders between human and non-human health; and the relationship between physical space and social interaction.

An important element of the Congress will be the programme structure over the two days, in which delegates will move from spaces for large, interactive group sessions to spaces for personal reflection and small group conversations. We hope this flow from one space to another will stimulate creative engagement around the themes that will help us all to make better sense of the thresholds we cross in our research.

Please refer to the full Programme sent to you via email and available on the 'Programme' link at http://bit.ly/2rVZTvO before booking on to the sessions on Eventbrite.

All TECHNE Students are expected to attend but please confirm your availability and commitments before signing up to this event. Booking and then cancelling at short notice may deny opportunities to others and also wastes money, food and other resources.