Academic Archers 2017
‘The Archers in Fact and Fiction: Academic analyses of life in rural
Borsetshire’
University of Lincoln, Friday 17th & Saturday 18th February 2017
This highly interdisciplinary conference brings together academics, professionals and
members of the public from the widest range of disciplines. It will explore how academic
and professional expertise can cast new light on the storylines, character and contexts of
The Archers and also on wider society more generally. This second Academic Archers
conference will feature a special strand on the ‘Helen and Rob’ storyline as one of seven
diverse themed sessions.
The conference is organized by Dr Cara Courage (University of Virginia), Dr Nicola Headlam
(University of Oxford) and Prof Carenza Lewis (University of Lincoln). It includes two days
of papers and the option of a field trip to the village which inspired the original creation of
the series.
Conference Programme
Friday 17th February 2017
12:00-12:40
12:40-12:50
Registration and buffet lunch
Welcome from Professor Carenza Lewis and Introduction from Dr Nicola
Headlam
Session 1 – Genteel country hobbies? – Chair Dr Cara Courage
12:50-13:10
13:10-13:30
13:30-13:50
13:50-14:15
Paper 1 - Daniels & Maddison Warren: “My parsnips are bigger than your
parsnips”: The negative aspects of competing at Flower and Produce shows.
Paper 2 - Dobson: ‘Big telephoto lens, small ticklist’: birdwatching, class and
masculinity in Ambridge
Paper 3 - Michael: The Ambridge Paradox: inverse correlations between
cake consumption and incidence of metabolic disorders in a defined rural
population.
Tea, coffee and live listen to ‘The Archers’
Session 2 – Educating Ambridge – Chair Professor Carenza Lewis
14:15-14:20
14:20-14:40
14:40-14.45
Quick Pitch 1 – Lefebvrere: Ambridge as Metaphor: Sharing the mission and
Values of a 21st century library.
Paper 4 - Turner & Bage: We Don’t Need No Education - the absence of
primary education in the Archers
Quick Pitch 2 - Macdonald-Smith: Phoebe goes to Oxford
Session 3 – The Geography of Ambridge – Chair Professor Carenza Lewis
14:45-15:05
15:05-15:25
15:25-15:45
15:45-16:00
Paper 5 - Connelly: ‘I’m an Archer, get me out of here!’: assessing
Ambridge’s flood resilience
Paper 6 - Gleed: After the Flood: how can Ambridge residents develop
resilience to future flooding
Paper 7 – Nicholls: Placing Ambridge in the West Midlands – Geography,
Identity and Culture (pre-field trip think-piece)
Discussion
Field Trip and dinner (optional)
16:00-17:00
17:00-18:30
19:00-21:00
21:00-22:00
Travel to Rippingale (coach provided from the University)
Talk & film – Latham: Rippingale and the Origin of The Archers
Dinner at The Bull Inn, Rippingale
Return to the University of Lincoln (coach provided)
Saturday 18th February 2017
09:00-9:40
Keynote : A legal perspective on Helen & Rob
Session 4 – Helen ’n’ Rob - Chair Dr Cara Courage
09:40-09:45
11:10-11:30
Quick Pitch 3 - Campion: Coercive and controlling relationships: the case of
Helen and Rob.
Paper 8 - Runswick-Cole & Wood: Bag of the devil: the disablement of Rob
Titchener
Paper 9 - Medland: Culinary Coercion; nurturing traditional gender roles in
Ambridge
Quick Pitch 4 - Taylor: Dietary provision for pregnancy and lactation in
women’s prisons: an illustration from the case of Helen Archer
Paper 10 - Jarman & Baker: Soundtrack to a stabbing: what Rob’s choice of
music over dinner tells us about why he ended up spilling the custard.
Paper 11 - O’Connor: – Forensic blood pattern analysis at Blossom Hill
Cottage
Discussion
11:30-11:45
Tea, coffee and biscuits
09:45-10:05
10:05-10:25
10:25-10:30
10:30-10:50
10:50-11:10
Session 5 – Power relationships - Chair Dr Peter Matthews
11:45-12:05
12:45-13:00
Paper 12 - Goode & Courage: Does personal and social status affect
perceptions of physicality? Or, The Archers and big willies.
Paper 13 - Gillies & Burrows: Ambridge – a case study in using genograms to
assess family dysfunctionality
Paper 14 - Headlam: The Small Worlds of Ambridge : Power, Networks &
Actants
Discussion
13:00-13:40
Break – Buffet lunch
13:40-14:20
Keynote - surprise
12:05-12:25
12:25-12:45
Session 6 – Bereavement and spirituality – Chair Dr Nicola Headlam
14:20-14:40
14:40-15:00
15:20-15:40
Paper 15 - Hustler: “God in Ambridge” – The Archers as Rural Theology
Paper 16 - Janssen & Heilbronn: Freddie Pargiter: underachievement and
bereavement
Paper 17 - Meyer: The Archers as lieux de memoire of the Great War in
Britain
Discussion
15:40-15:55
Break – Tea/coffee/biscuits
15:00-15:20
Session 7 – Ambridge Online - Chair - Dr Cara Courage
15:55-16:00
16:40-17:00
Quick Pitch 5 - Coles-Kemp and Ashenden: The importance of social media
in modern Borsetshire life: domestic and commercial.
Paper 18 - Vandyk: ‘An everyday story of country folk’ online? The
marginalisation of social media in The Archers
Paper 19 - Turner: Being @borsetpolice: proposing an (auto)ethnographic
understanding of Archers fan fiction on Twitter
Discussion
17:00
Closing remarks, Dr Nicola Headlam
17:30
Conference ends
16:00-16:20
16:20-16:40
Registration Details
Registration
To register to attend the conference please go to the University of Lincoln shop page at
http://lncn.eu/AA2017
Conference Fee – £50. This rate includes entry to all of the conference presentations as well as
refreshments throughout the conference and lunch on both days. If the conference is oversubscribed a waiting list system will be available.
Friday evening trip to Rippingale including Conference Dinner – £30. This includes a return coach trip
to Rippingale in Lincolnshire with a talk and film about how the village inspired the original creation
of the series and a conference dinner at ‘The Bull’ featuring a ‘The Archers’ themed menu especially
created for the conference (NB places for the trip/dinner are limited and available on a first come
first served basis).
Accommodation
Accommodation is NOT included in the conference fee, but a wide range of accommodation to suit
all requirements and budgets is available in the city of Lincoln at http://www.visitlincoln.com/stay
The University of Lincoln has secured a preferential rate for Academic Archers conference delegates
with the Holiday Inn Express Lincoln City Centre http://www.expresslincoln.co.uk/ for the night of
Friday 17th February 2017. This is very close to the conference venue, and 50 rooms are available at
£70.00 per room, per night on a first-come-first-served basis. This rate includes breakfast, WiFi and
VAT. Car parking, if required, is £5.00 per vehicle, per night, payable on arrival at reception. Lincoln
is a lovely city and if you decided to make a weekend of it and stay Saturday night as well, there are
also 20 rooms available at £95 per room per night for Saturday 18th February, also on a first-comefirst-served basis.
To book at this rate, call 0871 902 1617 option 5 which will bring you straight through to the Holiday
Inn Express Lincoln City Centre Team. When booking your room please let them know that you are
booking as part of The Academic Archers Conference. Payment will be taken in full at the time of
booking and is non-refundable once paid. This rate cannot be booked via the website, any third party
or via the central reservations team. You can book at this rate up to and including the day of Monday
23rd January 2017. Please remember that accommodation is not included in the conference fee and
needs to be paid for separately.
Conference Venue
The Academic Archers 2017 conference will be held in the Stephen Langton Building on the Brayford
Campus of the University of Lincoln. This central venue is on the south side of the city
(http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/maps/) so accommodation in this area will be very close to the
venue. The ‘Uphill’ area is the heart of the historic city of Lincoln - if you stay in this area it will take
you about 20 minutes to walk to/from the conference venue, but you will be able to enjoy the
medieval delights of the spectacular cathedral, newly refurbished castle (with an original version of
Magna Carta if you have time to visit), cobbled Steep Hill, imposing Stonebow city gate and High
Bridge topped with 16th century shops.