A case study of pre-midlife crisis: an extraordinary transformational episode in an ordinary life

This case study explored a single in-depth narrative of an episode of crisis. The participant, an English Jewish man in his late thirties (Guy), was selected using a ‘random purposeful’ design from a sample who had previously participated in a study on the experience of crisis in pre-midlife adulthood. From a subgroup of participants chosen for giving full accounts of both inner and outer dimensions of crisis, the individual was selected randomly. Data collection comprised two interviews followed by an email discussion. The crisis occurred in Guy’s late thirties, just before the midlife transition, and so can be considered a ‘pre-midlife’ crisis. It subsumed the period surrounding leaving a high-profile banking career and a dysfunctional marriage, and the ensuing attempts to rebuild life after this difficult and emotional period. Qualitative analysis found four trajectories of personal transformation over the course of the episode: Firstly there was a shift away from the use of a conventional persona to a more spontaneous and ‘authentic’ expression of self; secondly there was a move away from materialistic values toward relational values; thirdly a developing capacity to reflect on himself and his actions; fourthly an emerging feminine component of his personality. The case study portrays an extraordinary event in the life of an ordinary man approaching middle age. It illustrates the transformative nature of crisis in ordinary lives, the dramatic nature of narrative surrounding crisis, and also illustrates existing theory about the nature of adult crises.

A new poetics of exile and belonging: the place of memory in the new media environment

This paper explores how new media environments represent and create collective memories of trauma; how creative digital practice can be a key methodology for memory studies and the potential of digital interfaces for representing and reconciling collective memories of trauma, particularly in the context of Cyprus. My project MemoryBank will be used as a model to discuss the potential role of creative digital media practice in both community arts and the formal education process in order to enable participants to engage with the process of peace and reconciliation in Cyprus and circumvent and negotiate politically ossified collective memory narratives and chauvinistic histories. [From the Author]

Reality-experiential history documentaries: the Trench (BBC, 2002) and Britain's modern memory of the First World War

Culloden (BBC, 1964) The Great War (BBC, 1964) 1914-18 (BBC/KCET, 1996) Haig: the Unknown Soldier (BBC, 1996) Veterans: the Last Survivors of the Great War (BBC, 1998) 1900s House (Channel 4, 1999) The Western Front (BBC, 1999) History of Britain (BBC, 2000) 1940s House (Channel 4, 2001) The Ship (BBC, 2002) Surviving the Iron Age (BBC, 2001) The Trench (BBC, 2002) Frontier House (Channel 4, 2002) Lad's Army (BBC, 2002) Edwardian Country House (Channel 4, 2002) Spitfire Ace (Channel 4, 2003) World War One in Colour (Channel 5, 2003) 1914: the War Revolution (BBC, 2003) The First World War (Channel 4, 2003) Dunkirk (BBC, 2004) Dunkirk: The Soldier's Story (BBC, 2004) D-Day to Berlin (BBC, 2004) Bad Lad's Army (ITV, 2004) Destination D-Day: Raw Recruits (BBC, 2004) Bomber Crew (Channel 4, 2004) Battlefield Britain (BBC, 2004) The Last Battle (ARTE/ZDF, 2005) Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC, 2004, 2006) The Somme (Channel 4, 2005) [From the Publisher]

Spank performance tour [at National Review of Live Art 2008]

Spank is a duet about two women’s journeys as they play out different roles. One woman recalls stinging anecdotes marked by intimacy, jealousy, fear and fantasy from her childhood in the 70s suburbs – round the corner from where Mike Leigh would film Life Is Sweet. Her Double (projected on screen) reads from a newspaper about an event that punctured the local community, creating an enduring cultural scar, her voice lacking emotion. Both women must eventually face one another and ask, who is deceiving whom? The consequences of guilt and shame and the unstable shift from private memory to public consequence is inevitable and deadly.[ABSTRACT BY THE AUTHOR]