Liberating Histories at
Radical Print Summer School 2023
Nottingham Trent University, 17th May 2023
This workshop was hosted by Nottingham Trent University for the Radical Print Summer School 2023. The Summer School was presented by the Periodicals and Print Culture Research Group (PPCRG).
The Liberating Histories session invited some participants to reflect on feminist periodicals of the 1970s and 1980s in order to create a collective readers’ testimony that explores feminism now and then. Participants had first-hand memories of these magazines and some were encountering them for the first time; either way, the workshop was primarily concerned with exploring how feminist periodicals affected readers and whether they continue to have an affective resonance.
The workshop started with an introduction to the Liberating Histories project and some discussion of the different ways in which the Women’s Liberation Movement has been remembered. Participants were then invited to look through a range of magazines on loan from the Feminist Library, including Spare Rib, Sappho, Red Rag, Trouble and Strife, Mukti and Scarlet Women and to think about key feminist campaigns, issues and debates as well as the distinct visual styles, the look and the feel of different magazines. To what extent do these feminist periodicals evoke the atmosphere of the time? What are the signal emotions of the Women’s Liberation Movement? Do these magazines still stimulate particular feelings in readers? How do they reinforce and/or challenge participants’ ideas about the Women’s Liberation Movement? The discussion concluded with a consideration of the legacies of Liberation in relation to contemporary feminist campaigns. To what extent have feminist issues changed or stayed the same and what impact does digital media have on feminist debate?
Some photos from the session
A discussion with Nottingham Women’s History Group
During our time in Nottingham we chatted with members of the Nottingham Women’s History Group about their experiences of feminist magazines and activism in the 1970s and 80s.
In the first part of the interview with members of the Nottingham Women’s History Group, they talk about the kinds of magazines they were reading in the 1970s and 80s; networks; activism; and how what they read influenced their professional activities.
In the second part of their interview, the panel talks about humour in feminist magazines; the need to capture the stories of activists before they die; the importance and sensitive nature of archiving radical ephemera; their current projects and activism; and the formation of Nottingham Feminist Archive Group.
In the final part of their interview, the panel talk about how they met
in the 1970s, and networks in Nottingham. They talk about their archive at the Nottingham Women’s Centre and, among other magazine titles, the feminist internationalist newspaper Outwrite.
