Over the last few months a new feminist project has been occupying a small group of feminist historians at the University of Sussex. #MorethanAssistants is inspired by the history of feminist interventions in Historical practice.
We are concerned with
- The burden of responsibility on those few female figures who manage to earn a space in the public realm.
- The disproportionate shaming of young women for unruly behaviour.
- The power of playful, messy, feminism.
- The importance of carrying our sisterhood with us, whether physically, virtually or emotionally
- The power of being in the wrong place.
You can hear more about the assistants on this PRBH radio interview from 1.07 to 1.31
#MoreThanAssistants cheerlead other feminists
#MoreThanAssistants intervene in media narratives
(They recently attended the Modern British Studies conference in Birmingham where they took part in the workshop ‘Working as Feminist Historians‘ alongside their feminist inspirations Prof Sally Alexander, Prof Penny Summerfield, Dr Caitriona Beaumont. Prof Matt Houlbrook welcomed the Assistants at the final roundtable of the conference.)
#MoreThanAssistants take History seriously
The Assistants were really excited to be invited along to the Queerama launch at Sheffield’s Docfest and its Glastonbury showing.
The Assistants recently attended the Punk so what? conference at Solent University where they were a bit star struck by Rhoda Dakar and Glen Matlock
#MoreThanAssistants are Cultural Activists
#MoreThanAssistants work collaboratively
#MoreThanAssistants are intergenerational feminists
#MoreThanAssistants know that pleasure is political
#MoreThanAssistants recognises all of women’s labour – public, waged and unwaged, emotional, domestic and we value the currency of our own pleasure
(with thanks to our collaborator Molly Butterworth for capturing River’s weekend)
3 thoughts on “#MoreThanAssistants: Smashing Patriarchy one Doll at a Time”