Estuary: Out from London to the Sea
- Submitting institution
-
Manchester Metropolitan University
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 363
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
-
-
- Publisher
- Penguin
- ISBN
- 9780141018539
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- September
- Year of publication
- 2016
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
C - Centre for Place Studies
- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- Estuary developed across four years of cross-disciplinary exchange and original research, including river journeys on multiple vessels, visits to marine structures, exploring wildlife, meeting local people, and then documenting these experiences in film, photography and audio-recordings. Extensive archival work unearthed new information on the history of this place, which, combined with oral testimony, revealed hidden stories of diverse communities and disappearing trades. Subsequently, these elements were interwoven with first-hand accounts and lyrical prose over a two-year period of writing to create an immersive survey of the social, geographical and cultural history of the Thames Estuary.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Process:
Estuary developed through cross-disciplinary exchange. The research process included travelling along the estuary multiple times in many vessels, visiting marine structures and exploring wildlife, then gathering these experiences together in film, photography and through oral recordings. Further archival trawls and academic study unearthed new information on the deep history of the Thames estuary. The book combines first-hand accounts and lyrical prose to create an immersive and intimate portrait.
Insights:
Estuary examines the social, geographical and cultural history of this historic waterway, focusing on community and environment, investigating how each has shaped and continues to shape the other. This book has played a crucial role in retrieving diverse and unknown stories of lost communities, disappearing trades and hidden histories, alongside highlighting urgent contemporary environmental and political issues. Prior to Estuary there were no books on this locale that were written from the perspective of being on the water, or explored this subject from such multiple perspectives, using these diverse methodologies, and which specifically engage with human interactions within the depicted natural spaces.
Dissemination:
Estuary was published by Hamish Hamilton in 2016, following journal articles in Five Dials and Aeon Magazine. The book was positively reviewed in the print-media and featured on national television and radio. Furthermore, Estuary was long-listed for the Gordon Burns Prize, became Caught by the River’s Book of the Month and was the catalyst for Metal’s Estuary Festival 2016, the exhibition After London (Cass Gallery) and the Hoo-Peninsula (HLF oral-history Project). Lichtenstein spoke about the publication at over twenty public events at major literary festivals and museums. A chapter from Estuary is included in Women on Nature (Unbound, 2020).
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -