Stills from Monalisa Chukwuma’s Portrait of an Unknown Woman
Monalisa Chukwuma’s Portrait of an Unknown Woman (2021, Colour, 97mins) examines post-conflict memory and trauma concerning Nigeria’s civil war (1967-70). The film is both a self-portrait, which draws on family history and personal memories, and a recounting of the collective memory of a past event that has been repressed in public constructions of Nigeria’s history. In making space for the memories of ordinary people living through conflict, the film reflects on the long afterlife of trauma and its transmission down generations.
Playing in the Dark Installation (2022) Multiple projection video and text installation in two parts (Colour/Black and white, sound). Visitors are encouraged to start with the film screening in Goldsmiths’ CURZON cinema and then the installation at RHB Great Hall.
Free Admission
Portrait of an Unknown Woman: Film screening
When: 4 + 5, 11 + 12 June @ 11am, 2pm, 6pm , 6 to 10 June @ 6pm Where: CURZON Cinema, Goldsmiths University
Playing in the Dark: Installation
When: 4 to 10 June, from 11am – 9pm Where: RHB Great Hall, Goldsmiths University, New Cross London, SE14 6N
… it feels like the volume has been turned up on everything, it feels like you are hanging on by a thread, it feels like you are losing your mind, it feels like no one will believe you, it feels like you are what’s wrong with the world, nothing here is real your paranoia is your reality, it is like you are standing in a dark room staring at the worst of yourself with no hope of escape…
Image of light through the trees
It took me a while to figure out what was going on, and it has taken me longer to put what I have written out there, in the knowledge I present only one perspective, and I may be getting it all wrong… but here is the starting point of my attempt to make sense of and see menopause from a critical utopian perspective, to my community of utopians, to my climacteric companions and to everyone beyond.
About a year and a half ago I had an unshakable feeling something had ‘shifted’ inside, something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I was exhausted, moody, panicking, crying spontaneously, paranoid (and on top of that for those that know me!) physically exhausted, aching, periods of hypersensitivity to noise, headaches, night chills. I was close to submission of my research thesis isn’t that meant to be ‘normal’ aren’t we meant to ago ‘crazy’ at this time? A problematic narrative, but that’s for another time… In addition, we were in the middle of a lock down and global pandemic, my job prospects and finances were insecure, surely I was just on this messy physical and psychological precipice because of stress..?
The thought of menopause had flitted through my mind six months earlier. I’m in my late 30s so I thought it was unlikely (the average reported age in the UK is 51).[i] It wasn’t until I had a complete breakdown over new year that I realised what was going on. Speaking with my mother we started to put together the pieces of a pattern of early perimenopause in the family (probably linked with autoimmune disorders). I held out for an appointment with my own GP who I knew had expertise in this area who diagnosed me as perimenopausal.[ii] A term I only just learnt in my ignorance, but had I known earlier may have been a helpful one. It is the time leading up to the menopause when hormonal swings occur and symptoms we associate with ‘the menopause’ begin.
Raised in a heteronormative patriarchal world, I am now challenging prejudices I didn’t realise I held. I realise I have internalised beliefs that menopause only happens to “older women” (wherever that line is drawn in age and genders) and was mainly marked by irritability, mood swings and hot flushes. Now I realise everyone’s experience is different, for example, cold flushes as well as hot ones, and tinnitus among many other symptoms. This is part of a spectrum of change, and I know that I have between 4 – 15 years of change as part of this transformative part of my life. There is a real feeling of uncertainty, trepidation and deep-seated fear.
In 2019 a BJFM survey found 48% of GPs had no training in menopause.[iii] 33 of 41% of UK universities do not have mandatory menopause education on the curriculum.[iv] The NHS page is basic for early and perimenopause, focused on a loss of fertility rather than general wellbeing, so I dig deeper. An article explaining perimenopausal moods swings notes that they “can be severe, but it is important that there are very real physical changes that are happening in your body which are impacting how you feel and behave.”[v] Another description fills me with dread:
“Although it is a physiological process, especially the fluctuations and final loss of estrogen activity may have a negative impact on mental well-being; lead to vasomotor symptoms, sleep disturbances, sexual problems, cognitive decline, and depressive symptoms; and may even contribute to an upsurge in the incidence of severe mental disorders, such as depressive disorders or schizophrenic psychoses. In addition to these biological changes, for women this phase of life is often burdened with numerous psychosocial stressors, role changes, losses, and the experience of aging.”[vi]
As I read through medical journals, I find that perimenopause may lead to an enhanced risk of first onset psychoses, for those with existing mental health issues a time where they may experience a second wave.[vii] While I am interested in replacing negative terms as psychoses with less medicalised understandings of our mind, self and relation to reality, the terms shocked me into realising that we need to be talking about the menopause and mental health and urgently.
Another article notes:
“I also see clients presenting with what I call brain fog—cognitive impairment. They have trouble concentrating at work, they have difficulty with their thoughts and communicating, for example. That can be scary.”[viii]
That chilled me, it feels already that the slightest slip is fatal to your reputation, particularly as a woman or non-binary individual in our patriarchal system. How will I cope? How do others or have others coped…?
As a white Scottish woman, living in Brighton where there are a lot of progressive health services, and with a strong support network, I know I am extremely privileged despite the early onset. However, issues faced by many have been accentuated by the pandemic and by Brexit, for other further by the impact of war and climate crisis. This includes lack of access to medication, misdiagnosis and misinformation that are particularly problematic for those entering this transition early or from a trans or non-binary perspective.[ix] While changes are happening in law in the UK, we are a long way from moving away from over-pathologising menopause and moving to a bio-psycho-socio-cultural model that properly recognises the multiple issues, and the need for social as well as medical adaptations.
The Climacteric
“Most of all I think of how important it is for us to share with each other the powers buried within the breaking of silence about our bodies and our health, even though we have been schooled to be secret and stoical about pain and disease. But that stoicism and silence does not serve us nor our communities, only the forces of things as they are.”[x]
– Audrey Lorde
Through this time I have learnt that medically the menopause it is only one day, the day one year from which your periods stop. One semantic issue with the menopause is its retrospective diagnosis. This is of little use for those going into sudden menopause, for many trans people going through menopause, or to those of us who experience little or no periods anyway due to health reasons or contraceptive choices. I need to consider the possibility I won’t ever be able to put in a pin in that day. This has left me feeling uncentred and adrift. It is easier to deal with things when you can name them and ascribe an origin point, however arbitrary.
In my frantic research in the medical journals have found a name that makes more sense to me, finding solace in academic wordplay. I realise I am now entering into the climacteric, a term that is medically used to describe the spectrum of “perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause”.[xi] One medical article on the climacteric argues strongly for increased use of this terminology:
“… we should leave the term ‘menopause’ only for naming the event of cessation of menstruation that will happen later as the consequence of the decline in ovarian activity… that it does not seem proper to wait for the cessation of menstrual bleeding before some intervention is started”[xii]
I recognise that perhaps a new medical word is not helpful now. Many more celebrities and other people are speaking out about going through the menopause and it is gaining greater understanding. Perhaps changing the word in the popular imaginary now is way off the mark, and just my way of distancing and dealing with this myself. However, this word has positively changed how I approach this for me, even if it is not useful for anyone else.
Rather than perpetuating problematic norms and silences around this, I want to join the chorus of people who are transforming the narrative, and sharing the way in which the medical tradition is challenging itself, as well as being challenged. Selfishly, I also want to lay claim to my climacteric in a way that helps me to bear it and even learn from it.
To establish new practices, we must first look at the problems raise, the “darkness of the lived moment” when it comes to climacteric matters.[xiii] Beyond this, I want to suggest we can utopianise the climacteric as an open space of transformation, however ridiculous that may seem. I want it to be full of hope that things can be better, for this time to be part of a material change in how I approach my role in society as a utopian citizen stumbling towards the vague possibility of a brighter future in dark times.
Utopian philosopher Ernst Bloch notes that we must start from where we are by trying to understand the darkness of the lived moment, or in this case the darkness of the lived menopause.[xiv] Perhaps we can draw from Tom Moylan’s notes in Becoming Utopian and the climacteric can be a process of becoming utopian of connection rather than isolation a “locus of person and community where the education of desire takes hold.”[xv] I find inspiration in local groups who ambitiously “want to share their experiences and help each other stay positive, strong, re-energised and content.”[xvi]
I want to explore how it can be a process of becoming and understanding myself as a human being,an “incremental process of moving from passive suffering to active struggle, experiencing thoughts and feelings about their new lives in nascent solution, and thereby garnering the wherewithal to negotiate the difficult steps required to move toward that [new] world.”[xvii] However, I don’t want to step into this new world naively, but critically, as I know, there are so many potential health issues. I can’t just say everything is alright and thus it becomes so magically around me.
The World Health Organisation noted that the factors influencing quality of life during what they refer to as the “menopause transition” are previous emotional and physical health, social situation, the experience of stressful life events, and the beliefs about menopause and female ageing in their culture. We should not discard the socio-economic ramifications of this and how poverty, access to healthcare, racism, sexism, ableism, and transphobia bring to the lived experience of people entering the climacteric.
I have many questions I don’t know the answers. Looking inward, how this will play out for me, and what impact it might have on my future health or prospects? While I am looking at this positively others may see me as a lesser person because of existing preconceptions? How will I respond?
As 12% of Millennials and 20% of Generation Z identify as non-binary, what does our current culture mean for prejudice against trans and non-binary menopause?[xviii] How can we bring understandings from dealing with hormonal imbalances during menopause to and from people using IVF or who are transitioning gender, for example, who also must cope with experiences in hormonal mental and physical turmoil?
I have begun by speaking and writing and then will move to action. So, in the knowledge that I am speaking from ignorance at the beginning of this; these are my first utopian notes from my lived climacteric, the shards of light in the darkness of the lived perimenopause.
My Notes from the Climacteric
Studies have noted that a person’s own perceptions of what the menopause will entail impacts on how it is experienced. While coming from the UK, in a patriarchal society where it is consistent described as an illness, a lack or a loss, as an inconvenience and trauma; I can still challenge that narrative. It is possible to write different stories, not to negate other people’s negative experiences but to understand and learn from them. If we can ensure a diversity of voices and experiences are expressed, it can help at this time we can help it become more bearable for each other. These stories need not all need be the same, and from what I have read much is already being shared across different networks. Some research has noted that the climacteric is a “psychologically fertile time” in which to “master the tensions between expectations, realities, and possibilities.”[xix]
In a very straightforward way, one article reminds us this part of life:
“… should not be a negative experience. Remember, it is a phase, it is supposed to happen… Find some acceptance and compassion for yourself.”[xx]
Also, there are many cultures that actively celebrate this transition. I am looking forward to researching further and learning about different perspectives from the narrow patriarchal western one.
Things that make life more difficult have been accentuated by the anxiety of the far-from-equilibrium situation combing the pandemic, climate crisis, many ongoing wars and nuclear threats. However, this has also been a period of deep reflection; perhaps it can give us a chance to share and connect, to see things across our history of the climacteric both personal and political that can help things happen differently in future. Perhaps in this dark and darkening world we can find a way to understand the climacteric, not be repressed by and ashamed of it, emerging as a force for radical change through deepening our knowledge of each other.
The advice I can share for others so far is basic (and echoes and is informed by existing voices out there) but here it is as such:
There will be times when you cannot do as much, or think clearly, or manage your workload, be kind to yourself in these moments.
Educate yourself, no matter what age or gender you are, transition to the climacteric it is something that will happens to us or someone around us. For example, I did not know that tinnitus and chills as well as flushes were potential symptoms. There is an overwhelming amount of info out there once you start looking, I have put some resources online here and will update as I find more: https://www.magneticideals.org/home/research/wisdom-in-the-climacteric-menopause-resources/
Where possible, speak to your family about your medical history so you know when changes might happen. Having a medical history is particularly useful in the case of early-onset. I have been lucky, but I realise this may involve breaking down significant barriers for some people. There is so much work to be done in making this an open discussion.
Listen to your body, speak to a GP and speak to others that have gone through this. If you are someone that wants children you will have more trouble if you ignore early signs, but we can all get lost and misdiagnosed which can have other repercussions.
However, remember GPs are given little training in menopause at undergraduate level. If you are entering the climacteric early (before 45) check with your GP’s surgery to find out who has the expertise in this area to ensure you are speaking to someone who will listen. Many people under 45 will find they are not believed when they first present with symptoms, completing some of the symptom sheets I link to above in the resource section and sending them to your Dr can be helpful to help them understand what you are experiencing.
Reach out, we all experience this differently but the darkness I felt was worse than previous periods of paranoia, depression and anxiety, these are dangerous times to be in isolation. Talking to people you trust is so important. It is OK to ask for understanding, patience and compassion from those around you, particularly friends, partners, and colleagues.
Practice where possible self-care basics of healthy eating, regular exercise and giving yourself time to rest. There is loads of advice on supplements and doing things naturally if you feel you can, if not the advice around natural menopause is helpful whatever route you take.
Spread the word if you have the power in your institutions and workplaces. I hear that the YMCA in Brighton ran a menopause talk for any staff who wanted to attend. Although I’m sure it happens elsewhere, this is great practice and something we need to see more of, if you are a manager or in HR or responsible for worker wellbeing, please think about doing this.
I am interested in actively awareness raising on this topic, and looking at creative ways of coping in the climacteric, if you are interested in writing on or liaising on this, and want to get in touch please drop me a line at climacteric@magneticideals.org
This is all I have for now, and in the recognition of the darkness of the lived menopause, I wish you all powerful, positive and transformative climacterics, whether you are the one experiencing it, or a climacteric companion. To my partner Chris, my Mum and my friends who have granted me so much care, conversations, compassion, patience and understanding, I am deeply grateful.
… as I realise I am in the climacteric my view is shifting, my eyes slowly adjusting to the dark. However, my ears are still ringing, the world seems harsh, unwelcoming, and cruel, I feel my complicity more sharply than ever. It may take some time to adjust, that I may falter as I find my feet. I realise the experience of entering this new time-space has already taught me so much, opened up compassion for people I did not know I was shutting out, including that of my own body. Allowing me to start to hear the voices of others here and their suffering, successes and wisdom, a place from which we transform ourselves through connections and through doing so can start to heal and transform what is inside and around us, becoming something new, full of hope…
[i] “Menopause,” nhs.uk, October 23, 2017, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/menopause/.
[ii] I will write a more detailed blog on getting diagnosed, and then the process of medication and HRT after this.
[iii] Jessica Bateman, “Menopause Health Has ‘few Specialists and a Lot of Myths’ – Can Tech Change That?,” the Guardian, May 2, 2019, http://www.theguardian.com/careers/2019/may/02/menopause-health-has-few-specialists-and-a-lot-of-myths-can-tech-change-that.
[iv] “Menopause Support Survey Reveals Shocking Disparity in Menopause Training in Medical Schools. – Menopausesupport.Co.Uk,” accessed August 16, 2021, https://menopausesupport.co.uk/?p=14434.
[v] “10 Reasons for Perimenopausal Mood Swings,” Psychology Today, accessed January 20, 2021, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/women-autism-spectrum-disorder/202005/10-reasons-perimenopausal-mood-swings.
[vi] Anita Riecher-Rössler, “Menopause and Mental Health,” in Mental Health and Illness of Women, ed. Prabha S. Chandra et al., Mental Health and Illness Worldwide (Singapore: Springer, 2020), 147–73, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2369-9_9.
[vii] Anita Riecher-Rössler, “Psychotic Disorders and Menopause: The Untold Story,” The Menopausal Transition 175 (2009): 115–26, https://doi.org/10.1159/000209606.
[viii] “Men, Let’s Talk About Menopause and Perimenopause,” Psychology Today, accessed January 20, 2021, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/understanding-the-erotic-code/202008/men-let-s-talk-about-menopause-and-perimenopause.
[ix] “Transgender Health,” Rock My Menopause (blog), accessed August 16, 2021, https://rockmymenopause.com/get-informed/transgender-health/.
[x] Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light: And Other Essays, Later Edition (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Inc., 2017).
[xi] Nimit Taechakraichana et al., “Climacteric: Concept, Consequence and Care,” Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand = Chotmaihet Thangphaet 85 Suppl 1 (June 2002): S1-15.
[xii] J. E. Blümel et al., “Menopause or Climacteric, Just a Semantic Discussion or Has It Clinical Implications?,” Climacteric: The Journal of the International Menopause Society 17, no. 3 (June 2014): 235–41, https://doi.org/10.3109/13697137.2013.838948.
[xiii] Ernst Bloch, The Principle of Hope, ed. Stephen Plaice and Paul Knight, vol. One (The MIT Press, 1995).
[xv] Tom Moylan, Becoming Utopian: The Culture and Politics of Radical Transformation (London, UK ; New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020), 192.
[xvi] “Second Spring – Hove and Brighton Women’s Group (Hove, United Kingdom),” Meetup, accessed March 10, 2022, https://www.meetup.com/second_spring_brighton/.
[xviii] Deborah Garlick, “How Do Hormonal Changes Affect the Trans and Non-Binary Community?,” Menopause in the Workplace | Henpicked (blog), July 21, 2020, https://menopauseintheworkplace.co.uk/articles/how-do-hormonal-changes-affect-the-trans-and-non-binary-community/.
[xix] N. L. Stotland, “Menopause: Social Expectations, Women’s Realities,” Archives of Women’s Mental Health 5, no. 1 (August 1, 2002): 5–8, https://doi.org/10.1007/s007370200016.
[xx] “Men, Let’s Talk About Menopause and Perimenopause.”
The term climacteric is a medical term to describe the spectrum of perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause. Issues faced by those in the climacteric have been accentuated by the pandemic. This includes misdiagnosis and misinformation that can make things difficult for all entering this transition, but particularly problematic for those entering this transition early, or from a trans or non-binary perspective.[i] In 2019 a BJFM survey found 48% of GPs had no training in menopause.[ii] 33 of 41% of UK universities do not have mandatory menopause education on the curriculum.[iii]
British Menopause Society notes challenges during the pandemic have resulted in difficulties in obtaining HRT.[iv] There have been concerns over mental health as women in the climacteric are three times more likely to develop depression than pre-climacteric women.[v] A survey by CBII 71% of women over 40 say lockdown has increased symptoms of anxiety in climacteric women (although stats are not available for nonbinary it is anticipated that this would also be echoed, alongside other intersectional pressures including those of race, class and disability).[vi] Medical journals have noted an increase in suicide rates as become a significant public health issue during covid.[vii] There have been reports of increased cases of early menopause and suspected links between oestrogen levels and covid-19 where falling oestrogen levels increase the risk from the disease.[viii] Overlapping symptoms of long COVID and perimenopause have also been reported, alongside a lack of medical support on issues such as irregular periods.[ix]
However, in these dark times we have seen positive changes happen informed by the difficult and conflicted times we are in.[x] Despite the challenges of Covid we have seen significant political progress on climacteric conversations and law. A Private Member’s which makes provision about menopause support and services and to exempts HRT from NHS prescription charges in the UK is currently in its second reading in the House of Commons, following the #MakeMenopauseMatter campaigning in 2021.[xi] Organisations such as Menopause Café have seen their reach significantly increase during the pandemic.[xii] Existing menopause support services have tailored information to speak about the climacteric in lockdown.[xiii]
Magnetic Ideals are looking for groups to participate in some preliminary research. We are interested in looking into the support and campaigning that has been happening over the pandemic by organisations and groups that provide support, information and services for those who are perimenopausal and postmenopausal. We are hoping that this research will shed light and raise the profile of this work and help identify gaps moving forward.
This research initially takes the form of a short survey, and if anyone in your organisation or group is interested, we will also be conducting some further interviews. You can find the link to the survey here: https://forms.gle/TacYK4gET6vgm6LMA
Any personal data collected through the survey will only be seen by the Research Team. We will never personally identify you in any reports or outputs produced as part of the research and your data will never be shared without your consent. If you have any queries about this project, please email: climacteric@magneticideals.org
Please share this post widely, thank you for your time, and for all the work you are doing.
Warmest wishes,
Dr Heather McKnight, PhD Legal Studies
Covid and the Climacteric Research Group
[i] ‘Transgender Health’, Rock My Menopause (blog), accessed 16 August 2021, https://rockmymenopause.com/get-informed/transgender-health/; Deborah Garlick, ‘How Do Hormonal Changes Affect the Trans and Non-Binary Community?’, Menopause in the Workplace | Henpicked (blog), 21 July 2020, https://menopauseintheworkplace.co.uk/articles/how-do-hormonal-changes-affect-the-trans-and-non-binary-community/; Kate Johnston-Ataata, Jacinthe Flore, and Renata Kokanović, ‘Women’s Experiences of Diagnosis and Treatment of Early Menopause and Premature Ovarian Insufficiency: A Qualitative Study’, Seminars in Reproductive Medicine 38, no. 4/5 (September 2020): 247–55, https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1721463.
[ii] Jessica Bateman, ‘Menopause Health Has “few Specialists and a Lot of Myths” – Can Tech Change That?’, the Guardian, 2 May 2019, http://www.theguardian.com/careers/2019/may/02/menopause-health-has-few-specialists-and-a-lot-of-myths-can-tech-change-that.
[iii] ‘Menopause Support Survey Reveals Shocking Disparity in Menopause Training in Medical Schools. – Menopausesupport.Co.Uk’, accessed 16 August 2021, https://menopausesupport.co.uk/?p=14434.
[iv] Bms Administrator, ‘British Menopause Society Further Update on HRT Supply Shortages (20 July 2021)’, British Menopause Society (blog), 20 July 2021, https://thebms.org.uk/2021/07/british-menopause-society-further-update-on-hrt-supply-shortages-20-july-2021/.
[v] ‘Suicide in Middle Aged Women: Could COVID Make a Bad Problem Worse?’, NextTribe, 15 September 2020, https://nexttribe.com/suicide-in-middle-aged-women/.
[vi] ‘Second Lockdown Causes Anxiety for Menopausal Women’, The Independent, 23 November 2020, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/lockdown-menopause-women-anxiety-mental-health-b1760332.html.
[vii] Leo Sher, ‘The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Suicide Rates’, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine 113, no. 10 (1 October 2020): 707–12, https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcaa202; Jayashri Kulkarni, ‘Perimenopausal Depression – an under-Recognised Entity’, Australian Prescriber 41, no. 6 (December 2018): 183–85, https://doi.org/10.18773/austprescr.2018.060.
[viii] Ricardo Costeira et al., ‘Estrogen and COVID-19 Symptoms: Associations in Women from the COVID Symptom Study’, MedRxiv, 19 August 2020, 2020.07.30.20164921, https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.30.20164921.
[ix] ‘How Does Long COVID Affect Periods?’, 17 February 2021, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/long-covid-and-periods-the-unspoken-impact-on-female-well-being.
[x] McKnight, ‘Chaos and Hope’; Tom Moylan, Becoming Utopian: The Culture and Politics of Radical Transformation (London, UK ; New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020).
[xi] ‘Menopause (Support and Services) Bill – Parliamentary Bills – UK Parliament’, accessed 16 August 2021, https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2897.
[xii] ‘Gather to Eat Cake, Drink and Discuss Menopause’, accessed 16 August 2021, https://www.menopausecafe.net/.
[xiii] ‘What to Do When You’re Not Feeling OK: Dr Louise Newson, Newson Health’, My Menopause Doctor, accessed 9 August 2021, https://www.menopausedoctor.co.uk/menopause/when-youre-not-ok.
This research project presents an analysis of discourses presented by school students under the banner of the movements: Fridays for Future, Youth for Climate and School Strike 4 Climate. It contends that these movements go beyond just presenting a vision of an inescapable future, or a simplistic request for adults to listen to science. Instead, their vision is constructive of a better world as they challenge the failures of politicians, and arguably the adult public, demanding to play an active role in policymaking when it comes to the climate crisis.
The video essay below is an immersive experience (please listen to it with headphones if you can) and highlights some of the key issues that young people are raising and the complexity of the solutions they are grappling with. This was presented at “Taking Care in the Climate Crisis” Conference 2021.
The research argues that this movement is constructed of critical utopian discourse. It considers how the anxiety in the Student Strike movement creates optimism, and the narratives of cathedral thinking are demonstrative of an open-ended utopian process. It aims to give an academic voice and documentation and represent the work and future imaginings of these movements, bringing the voices of young people, rather than their problematic media representations into spaces where power is held and change can be made.
What Next? Responding to the Pandemic There has been concern over a turn away from climate activism during and after the pandemic leading to excuses to pursue business as usual. Youth protests have a vital role to play in re-emphasising the immediacy of the climate crisis. The movement initially relied on school children absconding from school on Fridays but the movement has had to find new modes of engagement during the pandemic. This has included moves to digital protest in the pandemic, movements such as @fff.digital have grown in popularity during the pandemic, there have been online streaming events, digital pickets and digital teach-ins. The movement has aligned with Black Lives Matter and continue to link colonial and capitalist oppression and violence with the climate crisis. An alliance of organisations conducted hybrid protests in Germany during the digital strike for climate change on 24 April 2020 as #FightEveryCrisis. Nineteen thousand joined the online live stream with contributions from activists, artists, and scientists. Alternative occupations took place where banners from 70 local groups were spread out in front of the German Bundestag. The UK Student Climate Network has used the time to build up systems and strategies, work on campaigns, and develop educational resources.
Magnetic Ideals are interested in continuing research and connecting with youth protestors about both their democratic demands and their modes of activism during and following lockdown. If you are interested in being involved in this research please get in touch.
The ‘Back on Track’ coaching programme provides a motivational intervention for doctoral researchers in the humanities and arts struggling to find ways of working during the ongoing pandemic. This programme is different from other programmes that were in place for researchers before lockdown. It is not focused on long-term goals (which can be unsettling in such uncertain times) or training in particular skills. Instead, it focuses on finding ways to work that are specific and person-orientated to get back on track in the present moment.
Mental health and isolation issues are well known to be problems while completing a PhD; such issues have become heightened in the pandemic. In a survey of 76 institutions, 94% of PhD students reported disruption to research due to Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent public lockdown.[1] The disruption has disproportionately impacted on those with childcare responsibilities and disabilities. Research students reported suffering financial concerns, lack of resources, a lack of support, loss of access to training and skills development. These have compounded mental health difficulties, research restrictions and stress, leading to one in five students reporting that they are considering leaving their studies.[2]
Present government guidance has noted that research students should work from home if they can do so.[3] Thus the above disruption looks set to continue, and students face additional stress with many having to make substantive research adjustments.
Back on Track
The aim of this ‘Back on Track’ programme would, through five one-to-one coaching sessions, get research students who are struggling during lockdown to get ‘back on track’ with their research work. The programme would aim to help them establish work-life patterns that are healthy, realistic, balanced and productive within the limitations of their current circumstances.
The programme consists of five one-to-one coaching sessions; researchers receive full notes of the session discussions highlighting their reflections, agreed actions for the following week, and links to any useful resources and contacts. Sessions are also a space where the researchers can share concerns and worries, and provide an opportunity for signposting to additional services whether they relate to wellbeing, social connection or academic support.
At present spaces are only available for researchers at CHASE institutions. We are planning to extend this programme for community leaders and community researchers in the coming months, please get in touch if you are interested and we will keep you posted as developments take place!
[1] “The Impact of Covid-19 and the UK Public Lockdown on Postgraduate Research Students in the UK,” accessed January 25, 2021, https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/the-impact-of-covid-19-and-the-uk-public-lockdown-on-postgraduate-research-students-in-the-uk.
[2] “The Impact of Covid-19 and the UK Public Lockdown on Postgraduate Research Students in the UK.”
[3] “Students Returning to, and Starting Higher Education, in Spring Term 2021 – Guidance for Higher Education Providers” (Department for Education, January 2021), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950583/Students_returning_to_and_starting_higher_education_in_Spring_Term_2021_FINAL_v3.pdf.
The pandemic and lockdown have impacted on us all. From personal illness, tragic losses, anxiety, isolation, fieldwork postponement, financial anxieties, childcare/caring responsibility increases, lack of access to research resources, or partners, family and friends. We find ourselves forced into the occasionally uncomfortable work of online communication, which can feel like inviting strangers into your home, sometimes breaking and sometimes creating social barriers and stress. Difficult decisions around housing have an emotional impact; where to stay, sometimes in which country, and for some, the decisions were not theirs to make. For many of us, it is making us think about ourselves, our futures, our connectivity with others, our writing, creativity and our research in different ways.
Lockdown is a feminist issue. Decisions made at a government and institutional levels, as ever, are dispossessing those already at the intersections of oppression in more violent ways. Coronavirus pandemic exacerbates inequalities for women, non-binary and marginalised genders, BAME groups, those with visible and invisible disabilities, those with childcare and caring responsibilities, and those struggling economically. These groups are highly represented in precarious work and the care industries; for example, women represent 70% of the global health workforce. We have already seen huge increases in domestic violence in the UK and difficulties in accessing reproductive healthcare.
Sharing stories is a powerful feminist practice and one that can help us relate to each other in these unsettling and disruptive times and spaces. The CHASE Feminist network would like to provide a forum which is a safe space to share our lockdown experiences, express anxieties and communicate critical and creative responses.
The CHASE Feminist committee invites posts for our blog relating to the pandemic and your experiences of lockdown. This is a very open call and your blog can be in the form of personal reflections, political responses, a discussion of how the pandemic/lockdown relates to your research or creative practice. We would also welcome creative responses such as prose, short stories, video, sound, photography or other visual art.
We ideally recommend that written pieces are no longer than 800 – 1000 words (although we will consider exceptions for longer pieces if they are submitted). All work published will be under a creative commons license, and all copyright remains with the author. Here are some articles so far, but please do not feel limited by the format!
If you are interested in writing a blog, please submit your idea or completed blog post to chase.feminist@gmail.com with the email title: Everyday Feminist Lockdown Blog.
Please note: We value, respect and encourage contributions from members of this network and beyond, from all marginalised genders, including women, trans women, trans men, nonbinary genders, and also from feminist allies. We recognise and respect the intersectionality of feminism and the various levels of oppression experienced by women and nonbinary individuals across class and racial lines — especially the vulnerability of those with disabilities and transgender women of colour.
We realise these are tough times. some of us can’t leave home because of health issues, both physical and mental, visible and invisible. For those of us well enough to help there are numerous local projects looking for help.
This one day course aims to give staff, officers, and students an understanding of the relevance of Trade Unions both inside and outside of education. It tackles some of the problems and conflicts that can emerge when working locally, and also identifies potential benefits that are possible when these organisations work together. It takes a holistic approach, recognising that recent struggles have in some cases brought unions together locally, and in others caused considerable difficulty.
Learning Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
Outline the purpose of trade unions, and their relevance in a precarious working climate
Explore Trade Union recent history in relation to Students’ Unions
Identify some of the potential conflicts and barriers to joint working
Explore the value of Trade Unions for students as workers
Evaluate which of the joint campaigning priorities of National Union of Students and Trade Unions Congress are relevant locally
Determine which projects and priorities of the Students’ Union could benefit from joint working with local Trade Unions
Generate a plan for joint working that will also respond to the needs of the student body
Cost
6 – 12 participants £650
12 – 20 participants £850
Please contact heather@magneticideals.org for further details or to book your session. Let us know if there are ways we can tailor this training to respond to the specific needs of your organisation!
We encourage organisations to work together in partnership to allow training to happen and are happy to train multi-organisation cohorts.
This training course runs over one day and can be run for between 6 – 20 student participants, and prepares students to carry out student-led research for Students’ Unions.
This training will introduce student researchers to:
The purpose and motivation for student-led research activity
Basic research ethics, including confidentiality
An articulation of what critical discourse analysis is, and why it is useful
A basic introduction to interviews, surveys and desk-based research approaches
Value and limitations of quantitative methods
Coding as a method of qualitative analysis
It can also be modified to include specifics of the research project, including background knowledge and terminology.
Cost
6 – 12 student participants £650
12 – 20 student participants, £850
Please contact heather@magneticideals.org for further details or to book your session. Let us know if there are ways we can tailor this training to respond to the specific needs of your organisation!
We encourage organisations to work together in partnership to allow training to happen and are happy to train multi-organisation cohorts.
An introduction to making funding applications and developing the skills to pitch your project ideas. These dual skills that must go hand in hand to make your funding application successful. This event is ideal for those working in the Students’ Union, community, voluntary or social enterprise sectors looking to develop their skills to achieve funding for projects.
All of our courses are interactive, creative and focused on reflecting on your working practice, and developed in consultation with the community sector.
Learning Outcomes:
Understanding different funding streams available and how to access/identify them
Gain experience through looking at example grant forms from small and large funders and understand what they are asking for
Develop insight to establishing an evidence base for your applications
Evaluate the use of partnership working for projects
Understand and apply the principles of making an effective presentation/pitch
If you have specific funding streams you are looking at we can tailor the training so that participants are working with the exact forms and guidance that they will need to be using.
Course Schedule:
Day 1 – Introduction to funding, limitations and opportunities – how to source finding, different types of funding (including grant funding and crowdfunding) and how to access this; Unpicking the process, looking at different application forms and what they ask for, what different funders expect and how you might evidence the need for your project
Day 2 – Partnership Working and Presentations, how you can work with others to increase your chance of funding success alongside looking at what makes an effective presentation; Making your pitch, in the final week everyone will get a chance to apply skills learning and do a short presentation on a funding idea and get feedback from the rest of the group
We deliver the course in-house in your organisation, it runs over 2 days for up to 12 participants.
