As part of the Visual Culture Research Group at MMU, I, and another colleague, will be giving informal 20 minute presentations based on works in progress + 20+ mins for Q&A. My abstract is: In 2016, the tourist gift shops are full of mugs, aprons, bags with the slogan ‘Keep…
Fandom is not an area that I'm academically particularly familiar with, but as CODEC's pitching into this event (Fandom & Religion Conference, Leicester), I thought it was an opportunity to play with some of my thoughts about the 'fandom' of Keep Calm and Carry On, and look specifically at those…
Fandom and Religion is an international, interdisciplinary conference. The Conference will explore interactions between religion and popular culture. How does fandom work? What is happening to fans as they express their enthusiasms and allegiances? Has fandom replaced or become a form of religion? What can the study of religion learn from…
I'm currently scanning in some of my paperwork from what was then The Public Record Office, now The National Archives, and found the start of this interesting letter from 17th July 1939 (from AP Waterfield to Ivison Macadam): I am troubled about this Poster Question. We must get the right idea…
Topic: Uses of popular culture by religious groups The ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster, designed by the British Government in 1939 as a response to war, has become global cultural icon of the early twenty-first century, drawing a nostalgic response for a time ‘when we all pulled together’ in…
Hearing how the coach of the Green Bay Packers likes to keep his team going with 'inspirational slogans', and this week chose 'Keep Calm and Carry On': And this week, with the team’s injury problems getting so bad that McCarthy seems to be getting unexpectedly bad news every few hours,…
If the latest traveling exhibition at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center feels a bit different than others, that’s by design. Design, in fact, is an operative word for “Keep Calm and Carry On: Textiles on the Home Front in WWII Britain” – design of period clothing, beautifully-stitched patriotic…
Hmmm, a new exhibition highlights the British experience of the Second World War by leading with the Keep Calm and Carry On poster... I really hope they also highlight that it wasn't used: An import from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, "Keep Calm and Carry On" showcases the…
