Author Archives: stringerquartet

Images of Violence

I recently attended an excellent conference at the Northumbria University organised by the sociology of religion group, Socrel, and focused on Religion, Justice and Social Power. Alongside some wonderful papers and a chance to hear about faith-based action for social justice in the Northeast, it was also great to catch up with colleagues and toContinue reading “Images of Violence”

NSS and the Cathedral’s Group

I have been waiting for this moment for many years. As I looked at the league table provided by THE for the latest NSS scores it was dominated by a new group of universities, mostly new universities and predominantly from the Cathedral’s group. It is something that I have been expecting, and hoping for, forContinue reading “NSS and the Cathedral’s Group”

The End of an Era

Last week I attended the funeral of a dear friend. He was the parish priest of the church my partner and I attended whilst at university in Manchester. My partner also lodged at the church for a couple of years. We were associated with the church for about ten years in total, from 1984 toContinue reading “The End of an Era”

The Structures of Racism

I have just finished reading David Aaronovitch’s book on conspiracy theories. There is much of interest in the book and, especially in the present climate, it is very thought provoking. What is perhaps most interesting is that Aaronovitch takes the discussion back to the end of the nineteenth century and shows that the conspiracy theoryContinue reading “The Structures of Racism”

Negotiating University Growth

Throughout my time at Swansea University, we placed student growth at the centre of our strategy. There were very good reasons for this, but it also presented us with several very significant challenges. In what follows I want to highlight some of the lessons that I personally learnt from that experience. We want to growContinue reading “Negotiating University Growth”

The Fickleness of Scholarship

This is the first of four blogs that will allow me to look back on the different threads of my quartet. It has been about a year since I began this blog in earnest, and so I thought this would be a good point to reflect and sum up something of where I have arrived.Continue reading “The Fickleness of Scholarship”

The Trigan Empire

The surprise gift this Christmas was a copy of Tales from the Trigan Empire, a large comic, or graphic novel, volume published in 1989. This is clearly not the kind of thing that I would normally read, but it brought back so many memories of childhood. When I was eleven or twelve (1973-74) my parentsContinue reading “The Trigan Empire”

The Pleasure of Reading J G Frazer

Having just completed the third volume of J G Frazer’s thirteen volume version of the Golden Bough, I have to say that I am really enjoying it far more than I would ever have imagined. I don’t think I could read all thirteen volumes one after the other, but with a short break between themContinue reading “The Pleasure of Reading J G Frazer”

The Akan Doctrine of God

I have just finished reading Joseph Buakye Danquah’s book on the Akan doctrine of God. This was written in 1941 and first published in 1944. It was part of a larger attempt to bring together the thought and ideas of the Akan people but much of the rest of the text was destroyed in aContinue reading “The Akan Doctrine of God”