(The Reimagining Lincolnshire Project who have a blog Reimagining Lincolnshire – Discovering and sharing untold stories has been engaging with local people and organisations to uncover and celebrate the marginalised and forgotten stories of our city’s past with the hope that we can imagine an inclusive future. Public space can become a bridge between past and present, a site where differences are celebrated by breaking down barriers and starting conversations. It also sits alongside the decolonising agenda at the University of Lincoln which aims to challenge the language we use and the ways in which we teach and learn. The project aims to tell the marginalised stories in new and creative radical ways, challenging existing hierarchies and oppressions that are the result of colonial legacy.
In collaboration with Librarians Hope Williard and Oonagh Monaghan, there are two projects for 2022/23.
For Black History Month, the team have partnered with Wikimedia UK to run an online Wikimedia Heritage Project ‘Wikithon’.
Secondly, Librarian, Oonagh Monaghan has teamed up with Dr Victoria Araj and College of Arts Technician, Jantze Holmes on a ‘Reimagining Zine Project’.
Wikimedia Heritage Project (Wikithon)
Librarians Dr Hope Williard and Oonagh Monaghan along with Dr Victoria Araj and Professor Heather Hughes attended several (because we loved them so much) Wikipedia editing training events hosted by Wikimedia UK as part of the ‘Connected Heritage partnerships’. Their aim was to develop partnerships with anyone working in the cultural heritage sector and collaborate on events.
Members of Reimagining Lincolnshire and any interested parties are invited to attend this online Wikithon, in honour of Black History Month on Thursday 20th October 2022. Participants will learn Wikipedia basics and make their first edits, in collaboration with the University of Lincoln library. In addition, this event will allow you to see how a Wikithon is run, how it could work for your organisation and how you can best support the growth of open knowledge.
The Wikimedia team will support you by showing you how to set up a Wikipedia account and make edits, as well as create new articles and upload images. Suggested topics and articles will be available, and University of Lincoln librarians will be on hand to offer support with finding and selecting sources, but we do encourage participants who wish to come with their own ideas of what to work on.
The event is open to staff, students and volunteers on the Reimagining Lincolnshire Project and the aim will be to update and improve existing Wikipedia pages and create new ones. The session will also help improve the digital literacy skills of all attendees.
To find out more and register visit the Eventbrite site Connected Heritage & Reimagining Lincolnshire: Black History Month Wikithon Tickets, Thu 20 Oct 2022 at 13:00 | Eventbrite
Reimagining Zine Project
Zines in themselves are a radical and effective way of amplifying voices that are not normally heard. They are a powerful tool of political education and free from being regulated by those in power.
The team of Oonagh Monaghan (Subject Librarian), Dr Victoria Araj (Post-doctoral Researcher with the Reimagining Lincolnshire Project) and Jantze Holmes (Technician in the College of Arts) were successful securing funding of £200 from the Decolonising@Lincoln fund 2022.
The aim of the project is to amplify hidden voices from Lincolnshire’s past, but reflect on these alongside the lives of people living in Lincolnshire today and to design and produce a twice-yearly zine highlighting the people of Lincolnshire who have been hidden and neglected as part of the ongoing Reimagining Lincolnshire project. Find out more about the project on the blog https://reimagininglincs.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/. The zine will also include reflections and responses from students and staff at the University of Lincoln and people outside of the University – these could be creative responses or reflections on the past stories – or how the colonial past has impacted their own lives today or their experiences of Lincolnshire.
Aims of the zine project
A call-out will go out to staff and students with particular focus on the reflections and experience of black and brown students in Lincolnshire.
The zine would be published in October (highlighting people of colour) and February (highlighting LGBTQ+ people but with an intersectional approach, focusing on black and brown LGBTQ+ people and the fact that these experiences are rarely reflected in the people uncovered in Lincolnshire).
The Library is developing a zine collection – more about zines and their impact can be found on the Library guide https://guides.library.lincoln.ac.uk/design/zines
The first steps will be the planning and organisation to include:
- Organise planning and production of the first zine.
- Call-out for contributers
- Involve and invite participation from students and staff (History and Heritage and Art and Design students initially)
- workshop with students/contributers and staff to use existing University of Lincoln facilities including risograph printers to plan out and produce the first zine
- The production of the zine will be a mechanism to document the work that is being done by the Reimagining Lincolnshire Project but will include visual and creative responses
- The zine will include a QR code and information about Decolonising@Lincoln and the Reimagining Lincolnshire project and blog.
- The zine will be published and distributed across Lincolnshire and a copy will be kept in the University Library.
- A digital copy will also be available.
If you have any questions about either of these projects, please email omonaghan@lincoln.ac.uk.