ALFRED 2017 Edition 6. Vol. 1

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Contents Page 6

Welcome from the Editors Dr Stuart Sims & Matthew Palmer

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Educational policy in the United Kingdom, with focus on academic underachievement, emotional literacy and international educational comparisons Randa Najjar Year 3: Childhood, Youth and Community Studies and Sociology

Page 26 Critical thinking in Psychology Introduction- Clare Davies A critical evaluation of biological explanations that push gender stereotypes Chloe Parrot Year 3- Psychology Rewriting psychology history: Harry Harlow, Monkey Man Lucy Parr Year 3- Psychology 11

IQ scores: Can they really be used to judge intelligence? A critical review of Murray (2005) Sarah Bell Year 3- Psychology Positive Psychology: Reviewing a Replication Sarah Thomas Year 3- Psychology Page 46 The reality of ‘humane’ slaughter in the UK Jenny Mace MSc Animal Welfare Science, Ethics & Law Page 68 Of Abandoned Character Clare Whitfield MA in Creative & Critical Writing Page 78 Should writers concern themselves with ethics? Tom Shuttleworth Year 3- Creative Writing Page 96 With Fire and Sword: William the Conqueror’s ‘Harrying of


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the North’ and the Northern resistance Adam Christian Drake MA History Page 112 Recognising Australia’s indigenous explorers Tom Watson MA History Page 126

Attitudes of religious communities towards LGBT+ community in Estonia: SameSex Marriage and Religion. Igor Ahmedov Year 3- Theology, Religion and Ethics

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A figurational sociological investigation of the current debate to ban tackling in school rugby and implications for societal attitudes toward ‘civilised’ violence. Maria Moxey MA Sport and Society

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Criminological Investigation: Miscarriages of Justice/Innocence Project Jade Bossuot Year 2- Criminology

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Welcome from the editors Thank you for picking up the first Volume One of the sixth Edition of Alfred, our journal of student work! Alfred exists to showcase the great work of our students from all disciplines and levels across the university. Reflecting the year 2015/16 we had a record number of submissions of work from staff and students. All of this was very high quality which made it challenging to narrow down what to include. As such, we are very excited to announce that we will be publishing two volumes this year to accommodate all of the work that has been successfully reviewed. This summer edition represents half of the pieces accepted and covers a diverse range of topics including animal slaughter, ethics in writing and a showcase of key issues in psychology. For the second year in a row, Alfred has been co-edited by a staff member and a student and the direction and reviewing

for the journal has been overseen by a staff-student editorial panel. We would like to thank Brenda Sharp, Cassie Shaw, Charlotte Purkis, Danni Pratt, Emily Millis, Jade Tullett, Samuel Chivers, Savannah King and Stephanie Buchler for all their hard work in reviewing this bumper year and for their guidance in shaping the journal. Finally, we want to thank all the students who submitted a piece for consideration and those who have been published. Every year we are bowled over by the originality and creativity of our students but this year out-stripped all expectations. We hope you enjoy reading this; Volume 2 will be released in the winter. If you are interested in publishing your work or seeing your students’ work published in the 2018 edition, then please get in touch- alfred@winchester.ac.uk. Dr Stuart Sims & Matthew Palmer Co-editors of Alfred 46





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Educational policy in the United Kingdom, with focus on academic underachievement, emotional literacy and international educational comparisons Randa Najjar Year 3- Childhood, Youth and Community Studies and Sociology This literature review will discuss the recent changes in educational policy and provision, recent research exploring factors influencing academic underachievement, critically examining the concept of emotional literacy, and considering international comparisons of schooling and learner attainment. The literature reviewed will attempt to provide a balanced and coherent discussion of the pivotal points. The point of discussion surrounds the recent changes in educational policy and provision. Firstly, according to Jenkins, policy is defined as ‘a set of interrelated decisions…concerning the selection of goals and the means of

achieving them within a specified situation’ (Jenkins, 1978:15, cited in Adams, 2014:25). One notable policy introduced by the Conservative Government of 1988 was the national curriculum. Branching from the Education Act 1988, the national curriculum aimed to provide standardised levels of education, allowing children to learn and achieve with the same foundations (Wyse et al, 2013). Before it was introduced, teachers had far more autonomy in the classroom yet once the government standardised the curriculum some of this control was lost. According to Ross (2000) the Education Act and the subsequent implementation of the national curriculum was a sign that the government was restoring control over the curriculum and prescribing the structure and rules. Essentially, Ross is arguing that through the introduction of a universal and widely applicable policy like the national curriculum, the education system has become more equal and meritocratic, allowing achievement based on merit. 610


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The curriculum is a contested entity with many academics arguing differing things in relation to the way students should be taught. Kelly (2000) asserted the notion that a curriculum is a planned set of learning experiences with an objective to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills of students. She argues that the extent of a child’s experiences is as a result of policy provision. Furthermore, the national curriculum is subject led, focusing on the core, English, Mathematics and Science as well as subjects such as modern foreign languages, history and others (Department for Education, 2013). In some respects, it could be argued that the national curriculum is objectivesled whereby the goals are set in advance, and the outcomes of learning are measured (Wyse, 2013). Some academics have suggested that the introduction of a centrally controlled national curriculum limited teachers’ professional freedoms. In relation to this, Kelly argues that teachers are no longer required to consider the 117

objectives and purposes, and no longer have the autonomy to choose lesson content based on the needs and interests of their students (Kelly, 2009, cited in Wyse, 2013). Fundamentally the national curriculum is a universal ‘one size fits all’ theory, whereby the government have not considered the needs and capabilities of all children, but have provided an umbrella curriculum which might not be suitable to each individual student. Another prominent policy introduced was the Academies Act of 2010, which allowed certain schools in the country to convert to academies. The aims of this initiative were to provide better life chances for students in deprived areas, allow for social mobility through education, and enable all children to reach their full potential. Academies are publicly funded, self-governing schools which are given absolute autonomy over the decisions made. For example, academy schools are able to decide the length of the school


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day, and are run independently from local authority control (Adams, 2014). In favour of academies, Adonis (2008) argues that their direct purpose was to replace the inadequate, government run, traditional secondary schools. However, directly opposed to this, Gorard states that academies were initially placed in deprived areas of the country, in order to combat underachieving schools. He claims that academies are appearing all over the country, arguing that this has defeated their original purpose. Moreover, it is counterproductive for any school to become an academy, which confirms that the original aim has been lost. An element of socioeconomic segregation has appeared as a result of the introduction of academies, whereby working class children attend working class schools, and middle class children attend middle class schools. Therefore, if the majority of academies are set up in deprived areas of the country, there would be little social mixing amongst

the more deprived children in comparison to their middle-class counterparts (Gorard, 2014). Secondly recent research exploring factors affecting academic underachievement will be discussed. To begin, both social capital and social class play a role in educational underachievement. Putnam (2000) argued that social capital is pivotal for a child’s future success, defining the term by stating that it surrounds connections amongst individuals, their social networks and the links that arise from them. Similarly, Williams and Le Menestrel (2013) stated that there is an association between social capital, academic performance and educational achievement. They argue that factors such as family, community and neighbourhood play a fundamental role in building social capital. Both these arguments believe that social capital is pivotal to the development of children and young people, arguing that those from a lower social class, with parents who do 812


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not possess social capital are at a disadvantage. For example, in her research, Archer (2010) stated that parents with high social capital feel confident and comfortable in expressing their opinions to teachers, however those with less social capital felt the opposite, and were intimidated in challenging or raising concerns about their children. This confirms that parents with high social capital can aid the educational achievement of their children. Furthermore, researchers Israel et al (2001:56) claim that if parents invest a strong amount of time and interest into their children, through expressing concern in their school or college work or placing emphasis on going to university, then a student is more likely to succeed academically compared to a child who is not given as much time and attention. Race and ethnicity are argued to affect academic underachievement. Crozier identifies that African Caribbean children are one of the lowest achieving ethnic minority groups in the 139

United Kingdom. She argues that this group underachieves in secondary education due to low academic expectations, exclusion and stereotyping. She found that black students received disproportionate amounts of criticism and control from white teachers suggesting that teachers treat students differently on the basis of race, contributing to underachievement (Crozier, 2005), and marginalisation, leading to the self-fulfilling prophecy. In relation to this, Fordham and Ogbu (1986, cited in Crozier, 2005) argue that black students refuse to engage with education because to do so would be to act white, something which they feel would not reflect their true personality or culture. Conversely, statistics suggest that over the last five years the attainment gap has narrowed for Black Caribbean boys with GCSE results increasing from 10% to 26%, showing an increase in attainment (City Council, 2008). Similarly, in regards to Bangladeshi and Pakistani students, the percentage of boys’


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results for English increased from six to eight percent. This suggests that while students may be stereotyped or treated differently based on their race or ethnicity, they can still achieve through innate ability or parental support. Linking coherently to the previous discussion, there has been research by Hansen and Jones (2011) who found that both gender and ethnicity differences in cognitive assessment can affect academic underachievement. It could be argued that the more cognitively capable a student is, meaning the way they successfully receive and internalise information, make decisions and problem solve, the more autonomous they are in their learning, further providing them with advantage over their peers, regardless of ethnicity, gender or class. Their research focused primarily on children aged five. The key discussion in regards to this particular factor is whether girls continue to outperform boys in

education, focusing specifically on early childhood years. Their research found that girls tend to outperform boys – creating a gender gap, said gender gap is biggest for Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students, with the gap widening more in regards to their gender. For example, a Pakistani boy will underachieve more in comparison to a Pakistani girl, suggesting that both gender an ethnicity can have an effect on learner attainment. A crucial part of their research suggests that when teacher assessment is undertaken, girls continually outperform boys, however when exams are standardised the gender gap is far smaller. A plausible explanation for this could be that girls are approached and interacted with differently and have stronger communication skills in comparison to boys. Furthermore, teachers might hold certain prejudices or assumptions that girls will inevitably outperform boys, and therefore assess girls more 1014


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favourably. It is fundamental to note that the academic ability of all children is relative to their approach to learning, but also their capabilities, and it is important to assess children holistically, by measuring their attainment in multiple areas of learning. For example, language, literature, creativity, physical development or mathematical and scientific development, as highlighted by the Foundation Stage Profile (2011, cited in Hansen and Jones, 2011). This examination scheme looks at children as a whole, considering all their possible abilities. This is in comparison with the British Ability Scales, which focus mainly on visual, verbal and non-verbal tasks, which are more suited to the capabilities of girls as past research has shown which will therefore yield better results for girls. The concept of emotional literacy is integral and can be defined ‘as the ability to recognise, understand, handle, and appropriately express emotions’ (Sharp 2012:12). Some 1511

argue that it is a precursor to learning and is pivotal to children’s educational development, whilst others claim that it is a deflection from what is important. According to an interest group in Southampton, emotional literacy increases life expectations (SELIG: Southampton Emotional Literacy Interest Group, 2003), suggesting that it holds importance within education. In relation to this, Perry, Lennie and Henry (2008) argue that emotional literacy can be advantageous to children and young people in the long term, as it contributes to educational achievement, stating that a calm and nurturing environment is beneficial for children’s learning. Furthermore, they claim that it reduces problematic behaviour and depressive symptoms showing that emotional literacy in practice can inhibit future problems, because when children are supported emotionally and taught to respect and appreciate their own opinions and the viewpoints of others they will grow to be balanced. However, Dickinson and Burton (2011) identify barriers to


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emotional literacy. They argue that if teachers focus too much on emotion, they may stray away from crucial parts of teaching, and because schools are complex institutions, achieving personal and establishment goals can cause tension and anxiety. A method of promoting emotional literacy is through PSHE classes as a requirement of the national curriculum. Standing for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education, this initiative allows teachers to educate students about issues surrounding health, wellbeing, relationships and the acquisition of transferable knowledge and skills about the wider world (PSHE Association, 2015). Leitch states that PSHE ensures that young people become autonomous learners and overcome setbacks through resilience (Wyse et al, 2013). In considering the topic of emotional literacy, the PSHE Association (2015:15) have suggested that teachers should educate students about the use of language to allow them to understand the affects that

negative and hurtful words can have on others. An example, would be the statement made that ‘pupils should be reminded to take care in the use of language in…lessons about mental health’, such as the use of phrases like “that’s so OCD”. This can have detrimental effects on other children with underlying mental health issues. This emphasises the importance of emotional literacy. However, Craig maintains the reasoning that PSHE offers a ‘diminished view of the child’ in that they are looked at as lacking in their abilities to handle their feelings. Moreover, he argues that PSHE creates a feeling of vulnerability and lack of confidence amongst some children within a class, meaning they are less receptive and proactive in their learning (Craig, 2007, cited in Wyse et al, 2013). International comparisons of schooling and learner attainment are also fundamental because it is important to observe the achievement and development of other countries with 1216


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successful educational attainment, and measure it against your own, and subsequently work on and develop the policies and initiatives surrounding educational achievement within your own country. According to Ofsted (2003) there are a number of differences between learning experiences of six year olds in England, Denmark and Finland which can suggest why some countries have higher learner attainment in comparison to others. For example, in Finland and Denmark, there appears to be a greater emphasis on nurturing children through creating a calm and flexible learning environment which does not follow a national curriculum. Examples include that students are not required to wear shoes in class. This is a stark comparison to the rigid subject led discipline in England, whereby teaching of the national curriculum begins in Year One. This suggests that differing climates produce varied learners, and subsequently more or less successful learner attainment. However, we must note that this 1713

source is slightly dated, and circumstances may have changed since then. Having said that, according to the PISA Report (2012) undertaken by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), China, Korea and Japan have the highest percentage of learner attainment, closely followed by Switzerland, Estonia and Finland, with the United Kingdom further down the league table. This proposes that the situation has not changed as much as previously suggested, and a nurturing climate creates far more successful learners. It is interesting to note, that China and Japan use much stricter, results driven approaches which would not be regarded as nurturing in the same way as Finland and Denmark. However, this can be viewed as relative to the cultural, social and educational values of the country. A very interesting and contemporary example was the BBC documentary entitled ‘Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School’


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(2015). The comparison was stark between the methods of the British and Chinese teachers, with the latter system being rigid and traditional. However, the commitment of the Chinese teachers to nurturing, according to their own customs and beliefs, could not be questioned. Bentsen, Mygind and Randrup (2009) discuss the impact of outdoor schooling known as udeskole in Denmark. They argue that idea of learning outside can have positive effects on the way children approach and explore learning. It provides a different environment to nurture learning experiences, and has shown to provide encouraging outcomes on learner attainment. Mygind (2005) asserted that udeskole was a ‘bottom up phenomenon’ instigated by devoted and enthusiastic teachers invested in learning. In relation to this, Jacobsen (2005, cited in IBID) argues that throughout observing children in this setting, both the natural style of outdoor learning and the traditional

classroom teaching methods offer beneficial qualities to the learning experience. Therefore, this suggests that a combination of udeskole and indoor learning can develop different abilities. Rickinson et al (2004) state that outdoor learning is decreasing, however the notion of udeskole suggests otherwise. According to Davis, Rea and Waite (2006) the United Kingdom has similar versions of udeskole such as Forest Schools which provide children with cuttingedge outdoor learning experiences. Outdoor learning experiences are available to children and young people in different countries and in different ways. However, it seems that through previous discussions regarding international achievement, the outdoor learning experiences in Denmark are more successful with regards to learner attainment as children are given flexibility and autonomy, whereby they can utilise both indoor and outdoor learning experiences, and subsequently achieve academically, as statistics confirm. 1418


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In conclusion, this literature review has discussed and reviewed the four key issues surrounding, educational policy and provision, research exploring causes for academic underachievement, examining the concept of emotional literacy, and considering international comparisons of schooling and learner attainment. It has utilised sources such as books, journal articles, research papers, government reports, and an interesting and relevant documentary, in order to successfully examine and discuss the crucial points. It has provided arguments in favour and in contrast to the policies and concepts discussed, and has analysed the importance of achieving a holistic and rounded approach to teaching and learning, and ultimately educational achievement.

Reference List Adams, P. (2014) Policy and Education. Abingdon: Routledge. Adonis, A. (2008) Academies and Social Mobility. Speech to the National 1915

Academies Conference. London. Available at: http://www.centreforum.org/assets/pub s/academies-web.pdf (Accessed: 21.10.15). Archer, L. (2010) ‘We raised it with the Head’: the educational practices of minority ethnic middle class families. British Journal of Sociology, 31 (4) 449-469. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10. 1080/01425692.2010.484921 (Accessed: 21.10.15). BBC (2015) Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06 565zm (Accessed: 05.12.15) Benston, P. Mygind, E. Randrup, T. B. (2009) Towards and understanding of udeskole: education outside the classroom in a Danish Context. Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary, and Early Years Education, 37 (1) 29-44.


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Available at: http://www-tandfonlinecom.winchester.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10 .1080/03004270802291780 (Accessed: 25.11.15). City Council. (2008) Joint Report of the Cabinet member for children, young people and families and the Chairman of the Children and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Raising Standards in Literacy and Numeracy. November 2008. Available at: https://learn.winchester.ac.uk/pluginfile .php/439626/mod_resource/content/3/ 234937Literacy_and_numeracyWEB_ 0.pdf (Accessed: 11.11.15). Crozier, G. (2005) There’s a war Against Our Children: black educational underachievement revisited. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26 (5) 585-598. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. 1080/01425690500293520 (Accessed: 11.11.15).

Department for Education. (2013) The National Curriculum in England: Framework document for teaching. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/upload s/system/uploads/attachment_data/file /339805/MASTER_final_national_curri culum_until_sept_2015_11_9_13.pdf (Accessed: 21.10.15). Dickinson, E. Burton, N. (2011) You looking at me? investigating 9 and 13 year olds’ ability to encode and decode non-verbal communication and demonstrate ‘emotional literacy’. Education, 3-13 39 (3) 265-276. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. 1080/03004270903505062 (Accessed: 4.11.15). Gorard, S. (2014) The link between Academies in England, pupil outcomes and local patterns of socio-economic segregation between schools. Research Papers in Education. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10. 1620


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1080/02671522.2014.885726#.ViffPn6 rTIU (Accessed: 21.10.15). Hansen, K. Jones, E. M. (2011) Ethnicity and gender gaps in early childhood. British Educational Research Journal, 37 (6) 973-991. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. 1080/01411926.2010.515018#aHR0c DovL3d3dy50YW5kZm9ubGluZS5jb20 vZG9pL3BkZi8xMC4xMDgwLzAxNDE xOTI2LjIwMTAuNTE1MDE4QEBAMA (Accessed: 28.11.15). Israel, D.G. Beaulieu, J.L. Hartless, G. (2001) The Influence of family and Community Social Capital on Educational Achievement. The Rural Sociological Society, 66 (1) 43–68. Available at: http://www.researchsalons.crcresearch .org/filescrcresearch/File/israel01_702.pdf (Accessed: 21.10.15). Kelly, A.V. (2000) The National Curriculum: a critical review London: Paul Chapman. 2117

Ofsted. (2003) The Education of six year olds in England, Denmark and Finland: An international comparative Study. London: Ofsted Publications. Available at: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/d ocuments/pdfs/2003-ofsted-six-yearolds-comparative.pdf (Accessed: 18.11.15). Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD. (2012) PISA 2012 Results in Focus: What 15 year olds know and what they can do with what they know. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/p isa-2012-results-overview.pdf (Accessed: 18.11.15). Perry, L. Lennie, C. Humphrey, N. (2008) Emotional literacy in the primary classroom: teacher perceptions and practices. Education, 3-13 36 (1): 27-37. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. 1080/03004270701576851 (Accessed: 4.11.15).


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PSHE Association. (2015) Teacher Guidance: Preparing To Teach About Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing. Available at: https://psheassociation.org.uk/uploads/media/27/8 115.pdf (Accessed: 11.11.15).

Williams, B. Le Menestrel, S.M (2013) Social Capital and Vulnerability from the Family, Neighbourhood, School and Community Perspectives. New Directions for Youth Development. Summer 2013. pp. 97–107. Handout.

Putman, R. (2000) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks.

Wyse, D. Baumfield, V.M. Egan, D. Gallagher, C. Hayward, L. Hulme, M. Leitch, R. Livingston, K. Menter, I. Lingard, B. (2013) Creating the Curriculum. Abingdon: Routledge.

Ross, A. (2000) Curriculum: Construction and Critique. London: Falmer Press. SELIG: Southampton Emotional Literacy Interest Group. (Eds.) Faupel, A. Sharp, P. (2003) Promoting Emotional Literacy. Available at: http://www.eep.ac.uk/DNN2/Portals/0/ Behaviour/selig_guidelines.pdf (Accessed: 21.10.15). Sharp, P. (2012) Nurturing Emotional Literacy. Abingdon: Routledge.

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Critical thinking in PsychologyIntroduction Clare Davies Lecturer in Psychology Critical thinking is one of the greatest benefits offered by a university education, but it's a skill that needs nurturing. As part of a new module on 'Advanced Critical Thinking for Psychologists', in December 2016 our Psychology third-year students were asked to write short, accessible, media-style articles on four controversial topics across the discipline. The students dug in with gusto, using their newly-enhanced concise writing skills alongside their analytical thinking, and four of the resulting articles are reproduced here. We hope you enjoy learning a little more about psychology's 'tough' issues around intelligence, gender, and its own history and struggles as a science.

A critical evaluation of biological explanations that push gender stereotypes Chloe Parrot Year 3- Psychology Evolutionary theory seems to be used to highlight and justify many aspects of our behaviour in the modern day world. Most recently, researchers have studied our consumerist behaviour and the sex differences related to it. Kruger and Byker (2009) applied evolutionary theory to male and female shopping habits, navigation techniques and perceptions. They argue modern shopping behaviours reflect our species’ ancestral hunting and gathering skills, in which men use hunting strategies while shopping, whereas women use foraging techniques. The study involved 467 Midwestern US psychology students, completing an online survey. This methodology poses problems for the external validity of the results. Firstly, this is a 2026


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very specific and local pool of participants, who are likely to be aware of what the researcher is looking for. This creates demand characteristics, in which the participants already have an interpretation of the experiment which biases their responses. Linking to this, expectancy bias may also influence the students, as researchers expected women to score higher on different aspects of the scale. The use of an online survey can also invoke people’s need for social desirability, jeopardising the validity of the results. The paper has a post hoc ergo propter hoc undertone to it, in that men were once hunters, women were gatherers, and therefore this must be reflected nowadays in shopping. However, modern society encourages women to engage in shopping, and it’s enforced as a “gender norm”. It is also a sweeping stereotype that men do not engage in shopping. Alternative views are not taken into account within this research, therefore questioning the application of evolutionary theory. 2721

The paper spiked the interest of media journalists and bloggers. ABC News, a popular news network in America, ran the headline “Why women love to shop”, with subheadings such as “Why men hate it”. The journalist has created these titles to reel in readers, when in reality the paper does not state that women love shopping and men hate it. In the article Kruger, the study’s author, gave a quote “In Germany, they have sort of a day care centre for men, they have a place where they can hang out, drink beer and play with power tools while their partner goes shopping”. This is very stereotypical, assuming that all men enjoy engaging in these activities. Kruger has illustrated a sexist way of thinking here, commonly heard in wider public life. The news blog Seeker had a similar article, written by Biliuti (2010). The articles share similarities in that they both list various academics in order to seem more credible; readers may thus believe everything they read in the


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article without questioning it. Finally, the articles take an anecdotal approach by using Kruger’s personal story relating to his theory. This pushes the readers to understand it in simpler terms instead of presenting statistics to them. It also provides the readers with a more personal feel and interpretation, which can cloud their judgement. However, not everyone fell for the anecdote and the way it was constructed in the media. Academic blogger Cliodhna O’Connor (2015) criticised this kind of scientific research that encourages gender stereotypes and therefore fuels modern day sexism. Similar to the Kruger & Byker (2009) paper, Ingalhalikar et al (2013) reported sex differences between structural aspects of the brain, causing differences in behaviour and skills, a large claim, which could influence many members of the public. However, the authors failed to provide the number of connections that illustrate sex differences, nor did they

provide the estimated size of the differences. Therefore, the strength of the connections cannot be measured, nor be determined if they are meaningful (Joel & Tarrasch, 2014). Unfortunately, the conservative media thrive on biological explanations for sex differences, and therefore overlook statistical problems, in order to fuel the endorsement of gender stereotypes (Brescoll & LaFrance, 2004). This illustrates how political bias can be detrimental to research articles, the way they are reported and the effect they have on wider public thinking. To summarise, the Kruger and Byker (2009) paper did show some sex differences in self-reported shopping habits. However, it is important to make note of the flaws in the methodology and the underlying logical fallacies and cognitive biases. The study lacks external validity, so cannot be applied universally. How the findings were reported in the media highlights how distorted public 2228


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psychological knowledge can become, through political bias and simplifying the scientific results in order to attract readers. Typically, the way this research has been carried out and reported led to a failed contribution of knowledge on this topic area.

References Brescoll, V., & LaFrance, M. (2004). The Correlates and consequences of newspaper reports of research on sex differences. Psychological Science, 15(8), 515–520. doi:10.1111/j.09567976.2004.00712.x Dye L. (2009). Shop till you drop? Why women love it. Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Dy eHard/women-love-shop-men-dontblame-evolution/story?id=9281875 Ingalhalikar, M., Smith, A., Parker, D., Satterthwaite, T. D., Elliott, M. A., Ruparel, K., … Verma, R. (2013). Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy 2923

of Sciences, 111(2), 823–828. doi:10.1073/pnas.1316909110 Joel, D., & Tarrasch, R. (2014). On the mis-presentation and misinterpretation of gender-related data: The case of Ingalhalikar’s human connectome study. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(6), E637– E637. doi:10.1073/pnas.1323319111 Kruger, D., & Byker, D. (2009). Evolved foraging psychology underlies sex differences in shoping experiences and behaviors. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 3(4), 328–342. doi:10.1037/h0099312 O’Connor, C. (2015). “Brain study confirms gender Stereotypes”: How science communication can fuel modern sexism. LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog, 4 Feb 2015. Retrieved from: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsci ences/2015/02/04/sciencecommunication-gender-stereotypessexism/


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Seeker (2009). Why (most) women like to shop. Retrieved from: http://www.seeker.com/why-mostwomen-like-to-shop-1764976965.html

Rewriting psychology history: Harry Harlow, Monkey Man Lucy Parr Year 3- Psychology Harry Harlow (1907-1981) is one of the most notorious psychologists in social science history. His studies involving monkey babies, and their attachment to artificial cloth mothers versus wire mothers, prove highly controversial when posited through a present-day ethical lens. This work has since been held up as a prime exemplar of the evils of animal research, with some sources crediting Harlow’s work as a key flashpoint of the animal rights revolution. A recent Australian performance production depicts his life, in which his research was dramatically portrayed as the ground-breaking science of a broken man attempting to address his own

demons (Insite Arts, 2015). He is also the subject of many biographies. The controversy surrounding his life and work apparently provide an entertaining and theatre/book-worthy narrative. Dramatic license aside, is such ambiguous appraisal deserved, and are present accounts objective in their judgments? Harlow’s research studied the impact of parental disengagement post-World War, when rising numbers of children presented with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Psychoanalytic and behaviourist theories were the prevailing psychological views of the time. Harlow’s idea that parents’ availability and behaviour towards their children influenced their emotional development was conceptually ground-breaking. His research rationale was borne out of a salient human problem and a desire to focus on this- something many good psychologists would identify with. Application of emergent attachment 2430


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theory helped many such disaffected children. While methodologically unethical in modern terms, this research occurred before the dawn of the animal rights movement. Arguably, applying current ethical parameters to historical studies in an attempt at validation misses the point. One must consider the bigger picture when evaluating Harlow’s contribution to social science. Not only was his research conceptually pioneering, he also applied empiricism (previously the reserve of behaviourist theory) to the more nuanced topic of love. The prevalent theory of psychoanalysis was unfalsifiable, and behaviourist interest focused solely on directly measurable behaviours. Harlow believed the role of psychologists was to break down complex human experience into its constituent variables- that anything could be investigated if assigned reliable measures. Bowlby’s attachment theory work profited highly from the scientific approach of 3125

Harlow’s work - the two formed a valuable professional relationship, and attachment theory remains a robust, well evidenced and influential working theory to date. Bowlby used Harlow’s work with rhesus monkeys as an empirical support base for his emerging theory of attachment in which he explored the function and nature of affectional bonds between children and their caregivers (Bowlby 1958, 1969, 1982). Political and social biases are significant in the re-evaluation, and often subsequent reframing, of psychological literature. Current political trends point to an increase in liberal and left wing thinking across academic fields and the general population. The massive human impact of WWII was likely a salient social issue in conservative post-war America. Psychological research at the time was more concerned with investigating the effects of the war and alleviating human suffering. In this context, Harlow viewed his animal


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participants as necessary in understanding the importance of nurture to healthy development, and contrastingly, the impact of trauma on development. Framing historical studies in present worldviews potentially undermines or misses the validity of the original rationale, or criticises aspects which at the time felt irrelevant. As succinctly stated in The Go-Between, ‘The past is a foreign country - they do things differently there.’ (Hartley, 1953) There is relentless modern day criticism about Harlow’s methods and the primary rationale behind his research. Easy access of the Internet provides an ideal platform for any lay person to offer opinion freely. The rigorous peer reviewing involved prior to publication of journal articles is not applicable to the majority of available online content; one incredulous piece or misquotation is enough to launch an opinion cascade. The chinese whisper phenomenon is realised, and over time availability bias leads to prominent

viewpoints becoming ‘fact.’ People tend to recall only the sensationalist, unusual aspects of what they hear, and consider it truth through heuristic processing only, without a solid evidence base. Take the infamous quote of 1974, often used by online sources as ad hominem support to confirm biases about Harlow’s ‘evil’ intentions; “The only thing I care about is whether a monkey will turn out a property I can publish. I don’t have any love for them. Never have. I don’t really like animals. I despise cats. I hate dogs. How could you like monkeys?.” This quote falls prey to the secondary citation problem, leaving it open to misinterpretation independent of original contextual clues. Here, the original context was humorous, the interviewer capturing Harlow’s tonguein-cheek attitude toward his long-time animal research participants (Pittsburgh Press, 1974). He also 2632


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mentioned Harlow’s affectionate inclusion of animal rhymes in his academic papers (see Harlow, 1958). Despite subsequent perspective shift, it is notable that at time of publication, Harlow was considered a leader in his field. Harlow was presented with the National Medal of Science in 1967, served as president of the American Psychological Society, and was awarded a gold medal from the APA. Strategic boundary-pushing thinkers like Harlow advance scientific understanding and practice. It is easy for hindsight bias to colour the reappraisal of historic studies, but mistakes elicit new thinking and are useful directives in our scientific approach. More recent research examining the neural correlates of behaviour has been heavily influenced by previous studies. Teicher, Tomoda & Andersen propose animal and human studies are comparable, and cite Harlow in their 2006 work investigating the neurobiological impacts of early childhood stress and 3327

childhood maltreatment (Teicher et al, 2006). Such standing on the shoulders of giants would not be possible without pioneers like Harlow.

References Bonin, R. (1974). Harry Harlow, Monkey Man. The Pittsburgh PressRoto, October 27th, 1974, pp. 24-27. (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA). Retrieved from: http://archives.postgazette.com Bowlby, J. (1958). The nature of the child's tie to his mother. The International journal of psychoanalysis, 39, 350. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss: Attachment; John Bowlby. Basic Books. Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect. American journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52(4), 664.


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Harlow, H. F. (1958). The nature of love. American psychologist, 13(12), 673. Hartley, L. P. (2015). The GoBetween. Penguin UK. Saunders, J. and Insite Arts (2015). The Harry Harlow Project. Retrieved from http://insitearts.com.au/the-harryharlow-project/URL. Teicher, M. H., Tomoda, A., & Andersen, S. L. (2006). Neurobiological consequences of early stress and childhood maltreatment: are results from human and animal studies comparable? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1071(1), 313-323.

IQ scores: Can they really be used to judge intelligence? A critical review of Murray (2005) Sarah Bell Year 3- Psychology IQ is a highly controversial topic; IQ scores may determine how an

individual’s potential is viewed, and the worth they are assigned. In an essay on inequality in Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores, Murray (2005) highlighted the complex and intractable nature of genetics and IQ. However, was Murray right to argue that racial differences in IQ are also intractable? Despite Murray’s belief in IQ’s intrinsic basis, variance within groups can be vast and, similar to other abilities, no group is completely superior; skills and abilities should be considered on a continuum. Regarding intelligence, ability gaps have been closing, with IQ point differences becoming smaller from the 1970s. However, Murray argued that this trend stopped in the 1990s, which could be due to deteriorating cultures, changes in instruction and demographic changes (Rindermann & Thompson, 2013). A key point in Murray’s essay was that IQ and academic achievement appear separate; academic achievements show change over time whereas IQ does not, suggesting a socio-cultural 2834


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link to academic achievement. Conversely, when looking at g, or general intelligence, it appears biological; tests with lower g required show convergence of scores, whereas those with wider differences are unrelated to culture. According to Spearman (1927, cited by Murray), the difference is most obvious in tests requiring the most g, those which cannot be affected by cultural and educational factors, and Murray noted that g is now believed to be the most heritable aspect of IQ. Murray proposed that if there is an environmental effect on IQ, it is not known, or understood how to change. Earlier research by Turkheimer, Haley, Waldron, D’Onofrio & Gottesman (2003) contradicts Murray’s point on environment. Results showed an interaction between genes and socioeconomic status, and their effects on IQ; in impoverished families, 60% of IQ variance was explained by environment, with genes contributing a very small amount, whereas for affluent families, the results were 3529

almost opposite. Murray’s viewpoint has also been challenged by more recent twin-study evidence which suggests IQ heritability is contradicted by apparent IQ gains over time (Nisbett et al., 2012). A key focus of Murray’s article was race differences. According to Murray, black-white differences correlate with the load of g; the better the test seems to be at measuring the underlying ‘g’ factor of actual intelligence, the bigger the resulting differences between black and white U.S. test-takers. Conversely, Fagan and Holland (2007) found race was unrelated to g. Murray also claimed cultural bias in IQ tests could not explain black-white difference, as the tests appear to predict social, educational and economic outcomes. Socio-economic factors have since shown to account for only around half of a standard deviation of difference (Magnusson & Duncan, 2006), supporting Murray’s belief that factors such as heritability affect IQ scores, although the data


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showed wide variations in the race gap and large disparities in achievement scores. Race differences could otherwise be explained by stereotype threat; negative stereotypes about the intelligence of their race could raise stress to levels debilitating to performance (Cohen, Garcia, Apfel & Master, 2006), although Murray was dismissive of this possibility. Although genetics and environment may both affect IQ scores, race differences are difficult to separate from other factors, as individuals typically interact with own-group members (Nisbett et al., 2012), therefore their social environment would also be racerelated. A further difficulty is that race cannot be easily split into groups; individuals all fit in a place on a continuum due to mixed heritage (Magnusson & Duncan, 2006). Although Murray claimed academic ability and IQ appeared separate, more recent work suggests that academic skills are required to comprehend and complete the IQ test

(Magnusson & Duncan, 2006; Marks, 2010); an individual with high IQ but poor academic skills is unlikely to gain a true score, particularly as school assessments and psychometric IQ assessments share content similarities (Rindermann & Thompson, 2013). There is also the possibility that despite equal intellect, differences may occur due to differences in information exposure. Fagan and Holland (2007) suggest that IQ scores are determined by two factors; genetically determined information processing ability, and cultural provision of information for processing, which can be difficult to separate. It’s notable that Murray’s article was published in ‘Commentary’ magazine, a right-wing American Jewish publication focusing on political and socio-cultural topics. The right-wing views genetic determinism and social hierarchy as important, fitting with Murray’s explanations of intelligence as intractable, and groups as unequal. Murray himself is a political scientist, 3036


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not a psychologist, and his views could be led by his political associations rather than by scientific evidence. As it is an article rather than a peerreviewed research report, there are clear logical fallacies, including the use of sweeping generalisations about current knowledge and understanding at the time. Murray (2005) complained that discussions of controversial topics such as innate group differences sometimes have negative implications for those involved, including job losses and being labelled as racist or sexist, particularly when arguments are distorted by mass media. Ceci and Williams (2009) also raised that those who challenge conventions are vulnerable to negative repercussions, which could lead to censoring of important yet controversial scientific research, while politically correct research is readily accepted. Still, in the wider context, alleged group differences in IQ heritability could cause intra-group conflict, as well as 3731

discrimination against those who are perceived as less intelligent, based only on their IQ score. Judgements based on IQ alone have the possibility of severely limiting human potential, as well as serving a huge injustice to the complexities of human intelligence. Therefore, it is important to substantiate any future claims with evidence, rather than over-simplifying the complex nature of intelligence, as Murray did, in order to reach a wider audience.

References Ceci, S. & Williams, W.M. (2009). Darwin 200: Should Scientists Study Race and IQ? YES: The Scientific Truth Must Be Pursued. Nature, 457, 788-89. Cohen, G.L., Garcia, J., Apfel, N. & Master, A. (2006). Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A SocialPsychological Intervention. Science, 313(5791), 1307-1310.


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Fagan, J.F. & Holland, C.R. (2007). Racial Equality in Intelligence: Predictions from a Theory of Intelligence as Processing. Intelligence, 35, 319-334. Retrieved from: http://www.bactra.org/sloth/faganholland-2007.pdf Magnusson, K.A. & Duncan, G.J. (2006). The Role of Family Socioeconomic Resources in the Black–White Test Score Gap among Young Children. Developmental Review, 26, 365-399. Retrieved from: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/do wnload?doi=10.1.1.460.1248&rep=rep 1&type=pdf Marks, D.F. (2010). IQ Variations across Time, Race, and Nationality: An Artifact of Differences in Literacy Skills. Psychological Reports, 106(3), 643-664. Retrieved from: http://prx.sagepub.com/content/106/3/ 643.full.pdf+html

Murray, C. (2005). The Inequality Taboo. Commentary [Magazine], September 2005, 13-22. Annotated version retrieved from: http://www.aei.org/publication/theinequality-taboo/print/ Nisbett, R.E., Aronson, J., Blair, C., Dickens, W., Flynn, J., Halpern, D.F. & Turkheimer, E. (2012). Intelligence: New Findings and Theoretical Developments. American Psychologist, 67(2), 130-159. Rindermann, H. & Thompson, J. (2013). Ability rise in NAEP and narrowing ethnic gaps? Intelligence, 41, 821-831. Retrieved from: http://www.iapsych.com/iqmr/fe/Linked Documents/rindermann2013b.pdf Turkheimer, E., Haley, A., Waldron, M., D’Onofrio, B. & Gottesman, I.I. (2003). Socioeconomic Status Modifies Heritability of IQ in Young Children. Psychological Science, 14(6), 623-628. 3238


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Positive Psychology: Reviewing a Replication Sarah Thomas Year 3- Psychology Throughout history, people have been looking for ways to improve happiness. Positive psychology is a branch of psychology which studies ways to improve happiness, initiated by Martin Seligman. In 2012, Mongrain and Anselmo-Matthews attempted a replication of Seligman’s 2005 research on positive psychology interventions (PPI’s). They focussed on two interventions from the original, slightly altering the control group condition. The first intervention task, “Three Good Things” involved writing about 3 positive experiences per day. The other task, “Signature Strengths”, required participants to apply a strength in a new way each day. The authors hypothesised that these tasks would, as Seligman and colleagues had found, increase happiness and decrease depression. But although happiness was increased, this time the 3933

tasks did not affect depression levels. The strengths and weaknesses of this replication will be discussed below, considering both the study’s position within recent positive psychology research, and its validity in terms of more recent replication guidelines. The recent “psychology crisis” had highlighted issues such as publication bias (the tendency of scientific journals to publish only significant results) and several common mistakes of some replications. This had led to the development of guidelines for potential replicators. The APA has released a list of procedures, many of which were not followed by Mongrain and Anselmo- Matthews. Firstly, they suggest that replications should be carried out by multiple labs using objective researchers. This will lessen the pressure on a single lab to provide statistically significant results, as well as ensuring that the experimenter’s personal viewpoint does not cloud their judgement. However, Mongrain especially, is known for his expertise


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within positive psychology: a motivation which may or may not have skewed his objectivity. Moreover, this replication was carried out by a single lab. Using a larger sample is also a guideline. Yet the replication has 344 participants, 67 less than the original study. The six years between the release of the original study and the replication may also pose a problem; in this time the original study would have received a lot of media attention. This exposure of the original study may have influenced the participants taking part in the replication, as they may have known what behaviour was expected of them and acted accordingly. As well as replication issues, the methodology of both the original study and the replication raises a few questions. A major issue lies within the timing of the interventions and the follow-up assessments. The intervention tasks lasted only a week.

Follow-up assessments of participants’ happiness and depression occurred at one month, three months and six months. This raises the possibilities of confounding variables: there are several things that may affect one’s mood over six months! This makes it difficult to conclude that the overall increase in happiness was due to the interventions. Furthermore, the initial recruitment of participants, through an advertisement stating “Feel better: Participate in Project HOPE (Harnessing One’s Personal Excellence)” may be more likely to attract participants that are highly motivated or already believe in the power of positive psychology, thus creating a bias within the results. Despite the replication’s flaws, its finding of statistically significant results cannot be ignored. In fact, it is reassuring. In 2011, the Open Science Collaboration released findings from The Reproducability Project, revealing that whilst 97 out of 100 original studies had significant findings, only 3440


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36% of replications did (Clark, 2016). The fact that Mongrain and AnselmoMatthew’s replication produced significant results suggests that the PPI’s that they used may well be effective. The findings of both the replication and the original study are still relevant to more recent research. A study by Proyer, Gander, Wellenzohn and Ruch (2015) utilised a similar intervention task, whereby participants were asked to apply either their signature strengths or lesser strengths over a week. Follow-up assessments revealed that happiness was increased for up to three months, and unlike Mongrain and AnselmoMatthews, they found that depressive symptoms were also lessened in the short term. The use of positive psychology interventions is still under much focus. Yet in 2013, a metaanalysis revealed that interventions are an effective tool for increasing wellbeing, but less effective among a clinical population (Boiler et. al). This 4135

is consistent with the results of the replication, and highlights the need for further research into the effectiveness of positive psychology on depression. Overall, the replication certainly had flaws, yet its stance amongst more recent positive psychology research cannot be ignored. This field seems to be ever growing, especially with mindfulness and gratitude tasks appearing more explicitly on social media. Implying causation from these interventions is difficult; could it simply be the taking part that counts? Despite this difficulty, the improvement that these tasks make to wellbeing appears to be almost undeniable. Perhaps the future direction should be to produce more replications of both successful and unsuccessful studies to process the extent of this effect.

References A.Clark. (2016, June 22). Replication and Reproductability in Psychology: The Debate Continues. [Blog]. Retrieved from


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https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcs eriesblog/2016/06/22/replicationreproducibility-psychology-debatecontinues/ Bolier, L., Haverman, M., Westerhof, G. J., Riper, H., Smit, F., & Bohlmeijer, E. (2013). Positive psychology interventions: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies. BMC public health, 13(1), 1.

Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421.

Mongrain, M. and Anselmo-Matthews, T. (2012). Do Positive Psychology Exercises Work? A Replication of Seligman et al. (2005). Journal of Clinical Psychology 68(4), 382-389 Proyer, R. T., Gander, F., Wellenzohn, S., & Ruch, W. (2015). Strengthsbased positive psychology interventions: a randomized placebocontrolled online trial on long-term effects for a signature strengths-vs. a lesser strengths-intervention. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 456.

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The reality of ‘humane’ slaughter in the UK Jenny Mace MSc Animal Welfare Science, Ethics & Law Nearly 1000 million land animals were slaughtered in the UK in 2014 (Eurostat, 2015). Over 200 thousand tonnes of farmed fish (CEFAS, 2015) and 700 thousand tonnes of wild fish (Eurostat, 2016) were harvested by the UK in 2012 and 2015, respectively. The on-going slaughter (the killing of animals for human food; OED, n.d.) is governed by the EU Directive 1099/2009 (EU, 2009). Each nation of the UK has developed similar regulations to adhere to this directive with their own method of implementation (WATOK [Welfare of Animals at Time of Killing] Regulations; HM Government, 20122015a). The term humane killing or humane slaughter is used within the WATOK regulations and other key legislation across the globe such as the USA’s commonly known Humane

Slaughter Act (USDA, 1978). The phrase ‘humane slaughter’ also returned 3530 Google Scholar results on 11 December 2016. Despite such common use of the term, an official international or even EU-wide definition for the term does not seem to exist. The Humane Slaughter Association ([HSA] n.d.) and the RSPCA (n.d.) deem pre- slaughter stunning that renders each animal unable to feel pain as an essential component of humane slaughter. Compassion in World Farming (CIWF, n.d.) elaborates on this, stating that: stunning and killing must be immediate; that the stunning process should not induce stress or pain; and that transportation and handling should be kept to a minimum and conducted in a way that minimises stress. This essay examines whether large-scale UK slaughter merits the title humane and what impact UK legislation has in reality on a day-to-day basis for animal welfare during large-scale slaughter. 3846


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Current science and legislation regarding slaughter in the UK There is general scientific consensus that animals (at the very least mammals and birds) are sentient; that is, they are conscious and aware, and they have the ability to feel a range of affective states in addition to pain and pleasure (Proctor et al., 2013; Broom, 2015). Evidence also suggests that fish feel pain (Braithwaite and Ebbesson, 2014; Balcombe, 2016). This has spurred the EU’s leadership in animal welfare (Farm Animal Welfare Education Centre; FAWEC, 2015). A host of EU animal welfare legislation has followed; for example, the statement that animals are sentient beings in The Treaty of Lisbon (2007), the outlawing of unenriched cages for chickens in 2012 (EU, 1999) and the aforementioned EU Directive (EU, 2009). Relative to the preceding legislation (see HM Government, 1995), the main 4739

new features of WATOK in respect to large-scale slaughter are as follows: pre-slaughter stunning is compulsory for all animals in all instances except for fish and religious slaughter; an Animal Welfare Officer is required in all abattoirs unless slaughtering ‘less than 1,000 livestock units of mammals or 150,000 birds or rabbits per year’ (European Commission, 2012; p.25); standard operating procedures are required for slaughter and handling; and certificates of competence are required for all staff handling animals in lairages and for all slaughterers (Food Standards Agency [FSA], 2015a). Despite such progress, there is currently neither EU nor UK legislation governing the slaughter of fish for human consumption. According to the British Veterinary Association ([BVA] 2015), without stunning, fish can suffer for at least 15 minutes before a state of insensibility is reached after being slaughtered. None of the


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WATOK regulations in the UK refer to large-scale fish slaughter specifically, and the EU Directive 1099/2009 simply states that fish should be ‘spared any avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations’ (Article 3:1) with no details on what is permissible (EU, 2009).

The reality of UK slaughter In 2016, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) learnt through a Freedom of Information request that 4455 animal welfare breaches in registered UK slaughterhouses occurred between July 2014 and June 2016. The vast majority of these breaches pertained to slaughter or pre-slaughter; for example, chickens being boiled alive, production line breakdowns leading to animals suffering, truckloads of animals suffocating or freezing to death, ineffective stunning, inhumane handling and animal abuse. One breach relates to one incident, not to the number of animals affected, meaning one breach could cause

suffering for hundreds of animals. Moreover, the aforementioned breaches concern severe breaches only; with minor breaches included, the figure rises to 9511. Data were collected back to 2011 with the animal welfare breaches between 2011 and 2014 totalling 6859. This means the number of animal welfare legislation breaches increased significantly over these five years. Undercover footage by Animal Aid (2015) from 10 UK slaughterhouses revealed cruelty and breaches of animal welfare legislation in nine of them. If current legislation is deemed as a humane approach to slaughter, evidently its implementation and enforcement need to be drastically improved. Animal suffering also poses costs to human welfare. So-called mirror neurons can be activated in humans when they witness or even think of an experience of another, even across different species. This can create empathy for and a vicarious experience of farm animals’ pain in 4048


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humans (Broom, 2014). In contrast, abattoir staff are thought to desensitise themselves as much as possible in order to complete their work and can be prone to post-traumatic stress syndrome (Victor and Barnard, 2016). Slaughter line speeds can be exceedingly high; for example, up to 35 chickens can be processed each minute (Harmse et al., 2016). The immense pressure, monotonous movements and unpleasant environment are thought to be responsible for the industry’s record of high staff turnover and absenteeism (Victor and Barnard, 2016).

Defences of the current slaughter processes and legislation in the UK The EU Animal Welfare and Health Audit of the UK in 2014 (European Enforcement Network, 2014) provides good feedback regarding welfare at slaughter. No infringements regarding welfare legislation at slaughter were listed in this report apart from concern surrounding the electric water-bath for chickens; however, it is noted that this 4941

was due to religious rites and because the EU Directive had not yet been implemented. This is a dramatically different conclusion concerning welfare at slaughter and the extent to which slaughter legislation is followed compared to the BIJ findings and undercover footage gathered by Animal Aid. Information from these three sources was gathered at a similar time, but the duration of time over which information was collected and the body responsible for data collection differed. The EU audit lasted one month and notice was given to slaughterhouse management. The BIJ findings originated from veterinarians and hygiene inspectors working on behalf of the FSA (the government body responsible for food safety and hygiene across the UK, including legislation enforcement) over a twoyear period. The undercover footage was secretly filmed by individuals not perceived as an authority by slaughterhouse staff. Perhaps with sufficient notice and for a limited period of time, it is possible for


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slaughterhouse management to maintain conduct in line with legislation. The FSA (2015b) conducted unannounced inspections in February and March 2015. The results of these inspections showed that legislation was generally being followed; for example, 96% of FSA officials and 87% of business operators were considered ‘good’ (p.3); however, Rotherham et al. (2016) suggest that these ‘unannounced inspections’ may have been leaked by the media. Arguably, the method of data collection and the individuals or body collecting the data can impact the findings. The FSA (n.d.) notes that some structural layout legislation changes are not due until 2019. There is also hope that legislation concerning fish slaughter will soon be in place (FAWEC, 2015). Whilst these future steps are welcome, considering the aforementioned problems associated

with the enforcement of other animal welfare legislation, it is clear that legislation alone will not ensure a humane death for animals. HM Government (2015b) refers to the UK’s position amongst ‘the top four countries in the world for animal welfare’ (p.6) as recorded in the Animal Protection Index (API; World Animal Protection, 2016). However, the API does not look beyond legislation into how the UK and other countries fare regarding implementation and enforcement. According to the Centre for Animals and Social Justice ([CASJ] 2015), Defra’s 25- year plan for food and farming excludes animal welfare goals on account of the UK’s supposed leading position in animal welfare. CASJ (2016) claims that ‘one major factor sustaining the “animal use” policy paradigm is the dubious narrative claiming that the UK has the world’s highest animal welfare standards’ (p.1). 4250


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Anil (2014) describes the religious reasons for non-stun slaughter methods. There is consensus that non-stun slaughter inflicts unnecessary pain (BVA, 2015). Exceptions should not be made in the law for religious slaughter, especially if stunning does not kill the animals, meaning it would arguably not be in conflict with religious beliefs (Gross, 2016). The argument also appears inconsistent and selective in its approach; for example, the Jewish faith acknowledges the moral problem of eating meat, detailing that only individuals of a high moral standard should be slaughterers so they can resist ‘the callousness that killing animals may engender’ (Gross, 2016; p.4), but there is an absence of campaigns to ensure this. Across the world, animal sacrifices are being increasingly banned due to the cruelty involved despite some religious-based protest (e.g., see Cid, 2016). The same cultural evolution could occur concerning religious slaughter methods. 5143

The best-case scenario for slaughter in the UK Even assuming the perfect implementation of legislation, substantial animal welfare problems will remain. As Stanescu (2013) remarks, ‘humane farming, even if animals are given a name or a little more room, can never truly exist’ (p.106). Animals have been taken from the location and people they have known for much of their lives and placed into unfamiliar surroundings that continue to change for what remains of their lives. Pre-slaughter, animals are fasted, so lack the comfort of their normal food. One reason for this is to protect public health in case any faeces contaminate the animal produce. However, this is also practiced for the convenience of slaughterhouse staff so there is less faeces to deal with before slaughter and less mess during slaughter. Achieving the excessive slaughter line speed necessitates the movement of animals at unnatural speeds down the race (the route between the lairage


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and slaughter pen). This can result in the need for coercion by staff. Good human-animal relationships are conceivably unlikely at this final stage of the animals’ lives as the animals are in unfamiliar and unnatural surrounds with unfamiliar people (Velarde and Dalmau, 2012). The EU’s Welfare Quality project (Welfare Quality, 2009a) is perceived as superior in its approach to animal welfare; for example, because of the size of the project and use of animalbased indicators rather than environmental indicators to assess animal welfare (Blokhuis et al., 2010). Yet, its animal welfare assessments do not appear to measure the expression of social or normal behaviours during animals’ time at a slaughterhouse (Welfare Quality, 2009b). This suggests that conditions are such that natural behaviours are not expected to be exhibited at all. Moreover, the extent of kicking, struggling or vocalisations in animals appears to be considered indicative of

animals’ ‘positive mental state’ (p.59). This is arguably misleading as the absence of such behaviour does not necessarily signify a positive state. It may not even indicate a neutral emotional state. Perhaps the animals’ emotional state is merely insufficiently negative to merit a physical or vocal expression of any discomfort being experienced. Fear can also provoke different reactions in different individuals. Fear may even inhibit such behaviour in some individuals (Forkman et al., 2007). Many unacceptable factors on a farm in terms of animal welfare seem to become acceptable in the slaughterhouse (e.g., ignoring positive affective states and animals’ need to practice natural behaviour and be in a natural environment). Thus, it is difficult to see how such end-of-life conditions can be seen as humane. Death itself is also increasingly treated as a welfare issue, regardless of the conditions underwhich it occurs. This is due to the potential positive affective 4452


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states being denied an animal if it is killed (Yeates, 2010).

Solutions to current welfare issues with UK slaughter Mobile slaughterhouses can seem an attractive alternative to long journey times and the need for animals to part from the farmer and farm they know well. Several studies indicate that mobile slaughterhouses may offer greater welfare for animals than conventional facilities (e.g., Eriksen et al., 2013; McCorkell et al., 2012). However, they also appear to pose additional economic, logistic and legal issues to such an extent that the HSA (n.d.[b]) does not recommend them and the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC, 2003) questions their current feasibility. These additional challenges may account for any studies suggesting lower welfare provisions when using mobile slaughterhouses (e.g., the study discussed by Knight, 2016). Even if a welfare issue appears to have a technical cause, it may be a side effect 5345

of root economic, logistic and legal issues. This area requires more research and investment. Switching to farming insects is another option. This could diminish the environmental problems associated with animal agriculture and remove the health problems associated with the consumption of animal products (Hanboonsong et al., 2013). Moreover, at least some of the welfare issues associated with animal agriculture could be removed as it would be far simpler to breed and process such tiny creatures whose level of consciousness is thought to be quite limited (Tiffin, 2016). Nonetheless, it is unknown whether insects feel pain or not (Tiffin, 2016), so it seems unwise to shift from current animal farming to insect farming as it could result in similar problems in the future. The mass destruction of animal life is debatably never respectful to life, especially when humans do not need to consume meat and dairy to thrive


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(Tuso et al., 2013). Slaughter is not an evil that has to be borne by society. The guidelines from animal welfare specialist bodies including the BVA (2016) and OIE (2016) are a step in the right direction. Their recommendations should definitely be ratified into law and will help with forming an international definition of humane slaughter. But this alone seems insufficient as highlighted in the best-case scenario section of this essay. Shriver (2009) argues that animal welfare advocates should support the creation of animals that are genetically modified to not feel pain. Whilst this would be preferable to the current situation, it is doubtful whether the public would accept this given the current controversy surrounding genetically modified crops (Dunwell, 2014; Freweret al., 2014). This option would also lack the other benefits possible (for humans and animals) in the alternative outlined below.

Assuming animal slaughter is to continue in some way, arguably the only way to ensure care for each animal as an individual and to devote the time and energy required to give each individual a truly peaceful death is if humans significantly reduce their animal product intake. CIWF (2016) outlines different agroecology options in their Fair Food and Farming report. Humans are known for their advanced cognition and altruistic capabilities (Mannings and Dawkins, 2012). Perhaps we should use these qualities to move away from intensive animal agriculture. Mandatory CCTV could be installed in the remaining facilities as supported by FAWC (2015) and deemed financially feasible by Rotherham et al. (2016). Whilst it is true that roughly 57% of slaughterhouses already voluntarily have CCTV, this is not all slaughterhouses, the CCTV is not in all areas and some slaughterhouses are resisting sharing their footage with the FSA (2015b). The FSA (n.d.) notes that there is often insufficient space in 4654


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the pens to observe slaughter, which highlights another reason for the need of CCTV. Moreover, Animal Aid’s undercover footage included slaughterhouses with CCTV. This emphasises the need for independent and effective monitoring of the CCTV once installed (Rotherham et al., 2016). As the majority of welfare breaches occur before arrival at the slaughterhouse, CCTV in vehicles used to transport animals to abattoirs could also help to ensure animal welfare (BIJ, 2016).

Conclusion It is highly questionable whether slaughtering at such high numbers can ever be humane even with the best legislation and legislation enforcement. It is encouraging that the number of animals slaughtered in the UK seems to be decreasing (e.g., see AHDB Dairy, 2016). This highlights that people’s efforts to reduce or eradicate meat and dairy from their diet is helping some animals. However, humans find behaviour change 5547

immensely difficult (Kelly, 2016), thus such initiatives need to be supported by government and business so that a culture is created whereby eating significantly less (or no) meat and dairy is respected, encouraged, desired and admired. CASJ (2016) notes that ‘[a] fundamental factor blocking animal protection is the persistence of an “animal use” paradigm across Whitehall’ (p.4). Such an outlook will only foster efforts to minimise animal suffering where it is convenient, regardless of what the field of animal welfare science brings to light.

References AHDB Dairy (2016). Slaughter statistics. Available at: https://dairy.ahdb.org.uk/marketinformation/farming-data/cull-cowprices/slaughterstatistics/#.WFHy1lzKPwZ [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Anil, M.K. (2014). Religious slaughter:


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A current controversial animal welfare issue. Animal Frontiers. 2 (3). 64-67. Animal Aid (2015). The humane slaughter myth. Available at: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMP AIGNS/slaughter/ALL/// [accessed 12 Dec. 2016]. Balcombe, J. (2016). Cognitive evidence of fish sentience. Animal Sentience. 2016.008. Available at: http://animalstudiesrepository.org/cgi/v iewcontent.cgi?article=1059&context= a nimsent [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. BIJ (2016). Severe welfare breaches recorded six times a day in British slaughterhouses. Available at: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.co m/2016/08/28/severe-welfarebreaches- recorded-six-times-daybritish-slaughterhouses/ [accessed 11 Dec. 2016]. Blokhuis, H.J., Veissier, I., Miele, M. and Jones, B. (2010). The Welfare Quality® project and beyond:

Safeguarding farm animal well-being. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A – Animal Science. 60 (3). 129-140. Braithwaite, V.A. and Ebbesson, L.O.E. (2014). Pain and stress responses in farmed fish. Revue Scientifique et Technique (International Office of Epizootics). 33 (1). 245-253. Broom, D.M. (2014). Sentience and Animal Welfare. Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK: CABI. Broom, D.M. (2015). Sentience and pain in relation to animal welfare. Proceedings of XVII International Congress on Animal Hygiene. 3-7. Košice, Slovakia: International Society for Animal Hygiene (pre-publication copy). Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/D onald_Broom/publication/289790582_ Sentience_and_pain_in_relation_to_a nimal_welfare/links/56d8fa7b08aee73 4856


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df6 cd086e.pdf [accessed 23 Nov. 2016]. BVA (2015). BVA Parliamentary Briefing – Slaughter Without Stunning and Food Labelling. Available at: https://www.bva.co.uk/uploadedFiles/C ontent/News,_campaigns_and_policie s/Campaigns/welfare-at-slaughterjune-2015-final3.pdf [accessed 12 Dec. 2016]. BVA (2016). Welfare at slaughter. Available at: https://www.bva.co.uk/Newscampaigns-and-policy/Policy/Ethicsand-welfare/Welfare-at-slaughter/ [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. CASJ (2015). After the 2015 Election – Prospects for Animal Protection in the UK. Available at: http://www.casj.org.uk/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2015/10/sept-15-elecconf-report.pdf [accessed 12 Dec. 2016].

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campaigns/slaughter/ [accessed 12 Dec. 2016]. CIWF (2016). Fair Food and Farming: The Way Forward. Available at: https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/742891 1/ciwf_uncharter_english_web.pdf [accessed 15 Dec. 2016]. Dunwell, J.M. (2014). Genetically modified (GM) crops: European and transatlantic divisions. Molecular Plant Pathology. 15 (2). 119-121. Eriksen, M.S., Rødbotten, R., Grøndahl, A.M., Friestad, M., Andersen, I.L. and Mejdell, C.M. (2013). Mobile abattoir versus conventional slaughterhouse—Impact on stress parameters and meat quality characteristics in Norwegian lambs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 149 (1-4). 21-29. EU (1999). Council Directive 1999/74/EC. Official Journal of the European Communities. 203. 53-57. Available at: http://eur-

lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ. do?uri=OJ:L:1999:203:0053:0057:EN: PDF [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. EU (2009). Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009. Official Journal of the European Communities. 303. 1-30. Available at: http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ. do?uri=OJ:L:2009:303:0001:0030:EN: PDF [accessed 11 Dec. 2016]. European Commission (2012). The Animal Welfare Officer in the European Union. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_foodsafety/information_sources/docs/ahw/ brochure_24102012_en.pdf [accessed 12 Dec. 2016]. European Enforcement Network (2014). EU Animal Welfare and Animal Health Audits: Animal Welfare – Slaughter and Related Operations. Available at: http://www.lawyersforanimalprotection. eu/eu-animal-welfare-audits/#UK [accessed Dec. 2016]. 5058


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Eurostat (2015). Statistics on slaughtering, all species, by country. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php/File:Statistics_on _slaughtering,_all_species,_by_countr y_2014.png [accessed 10 Dec. 2016].

FAWC (2015). Opinion on CCTV in Slaughterhouses. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/upload s/system/uploads/attachment_data/file /400796/Opinion_on_CCTV_in_slaugh terhouses.pdf [accessed 15 Dec. 2016].

Eurostat (2016). Total catches in selected fishing regions, 2005-2015. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php/File:Total_catche s_in_selected_fishing_regions,_2005 %E2%80%932015_(%C2%B9)_(thous and_tonnes_live_weight)_YB16.png [accessed 10 Dec. 2016].

FAWEC (2015). The Future of EU Legislation on Farm Animal Welfare. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT 4PyOZkUa8 [accessed 12 Dec. 2016].

FAWC (2003). Report on the Welfare of Farmed Animals at Slaughter or Killing – Part 1: Red Meat Animals. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/upload s/system/uploads/attachment_data/file /325241/FAWC_report_on_the_welfar e_of_farmed_animals_at_slaughter_or _killing_part_one_red_meat_animals.p df [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. 5951

Forkman, B., Boissy A., MeunierSalaĂźn, M.-C., Canali, E. and Jones, R.B. (2007). A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses. Physiology & Behavior. 92 (3). 340-374. Frewer, L.J., Coles, D., Houdebine, L.M., Kleter and G.A. (2014). Attitudes towards genetically modified animals in food production. British Food Journal. 116 (8). 1291-1313.


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FSA (n.d.). Slaughter licensing and animal welfare. Available at: https://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/ approved-premises-officialcontrols/meatplantsprems/animalwelfare#toc-5 [accessed 13 Dec. 2016]. FSA (2015a). Questions and Answers Brief on Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing Regulations (England) 2015. Available at: http://www.nfuonline.com/assets/5477 1 [accessed 12 Dec. 2016]. FSA (2015b). Update on Animal Welfare. Available at: https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/fil es/fsa150605.pdf [accessed 13 Dec. 2016]. Gross, A. (2016). An overview of Jewish animal ethics. Handout from the Animal Welfare Religion Symposium: The University of Winchester [2 Nov. 2016].

Hanboonsong, Y., Jamjanya, T. and Durst, P.B. (2013). Six-legged livestock: Edible insect farming, collection and marketing in Thailand. Thai Agricultural Digital Library. Available at: http://www.anchan.lib.ku.ac.th/aglib/ha ndle/002/634 [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Harmse, J.L., Engelbrecht, J.C. and Bekker, J.L. (2016). The impact of physical and ergonomic hazards on poultry abattoir processing workers: A review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 13 (2). 197. HM Government (1995). Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1995 /731/contents/made [accessed 15 Dec. 2016]. HM Government (2012). Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Scotland) Regulations 2012. Available 5260


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at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2012/ 321/contents/made [accessed 11 Dec. 2016]. HM Government (2014a). Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014. Available at: http://originwww.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2014/107/ made [accessed 11 Dec. 2016]. HM Government (2014b). Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (Wales) Regulations 2014. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2014/ 951/regulation/3/made [accessed 11 Dec. 2016]. HM Government (2015b). The Government’s 5 year Progress Report on International Animal Welfare. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/upload s/system/uploads/attachment_data/file /412631/animal-welfare-5-yearprogress-report.pdf [accessed 12 Dec. 2016]. 6153

HM Government (2015a). WATOK (England) Regulations. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015 /1782/contents/made [accessed 11 Dec. 2016]. HSA (n.d.[a]). Frequently asked questions (general). Available at: http://www.hsa.org.uk/faqs/general#n1 [accessed 10 Dec. 2016]. HSA (n.d.[b]). Frequently asked questions (specific). Available at: http://www.hsa.org.uk/faqs/industry [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Kelly, M.P. (2016). The politics of behaviour change. In: Spotswood, F. (ed.) Beyond Behaviour Change: Key Issues, Interdisciplinary Approaches and Future Directions. 11-26. Bristol, UK: Policy Press. Knight, A. (2016). Email to Jenny Mace, 15 Dec. 2016.


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Mannings, A. and Dawkins, M.S. (2012). An Introduction to Animal Behaviour (6th ed). New York: Cambridge University Press. McCorkell, R., Wynne-Edwards, K., Galbraith, J., Schaefer, A., Caulkett, N., Boysen, S., Pajor, E. and The UCVM Class of 2012 (2013). Transport versus on-farm slaughter of bison: Physiological stress, animal welfare, and avoidable trim losses. The Canadian Veterinary Journal. 54 (8). 769-774. OED (n.d.). Available at: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/18145 9?rskey=IINdcM&result=1#eid [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. OIE (2016). Slaughter of Animals: Chapter 7.5. Terrestrial Animal Health Code. Available at: http://www.oie.int/index.php?id=169&L =0&htmfile=chapitre_aw_slaughter.ht m [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Proctor, H.S., Carder, G. and Cornish, A.R. (2013). Searching for animal

sentience: A systematic review of the scientific literature. Animals. 3 (3). 882- 906. Rotherham, I.D., Worden, J. and Cormack, P. (2016). Research Report on CCTV Monitoring in Slaughterhouses. Available at: http://animalaid.org.uk/images/pdf/rep orts/RotherhamReport.pdf [accessed 13 Dec. 2016]. RSPCA (n.d.). Slaughter. Available at: https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwe lfare/farm/slaughter [accessed 10 Dec. 2016]. Shriver, A. (2009). Knocking out pain in livestock: Can technology succeed where morality has stalled?. Neuroethics. 2 (3). 115-124. Stanescu, V. (2013). Why “loving” animals is not enough: A response to Kathy Rudy, locavorism, and the marketing of “humane” meat. The Journal of American Culture. 36 (2). 100-110. 5462


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Tiffin, H. (2016). Do insects feel pain?. Animal Studies Journal. 5 (1). 80-96.

inputs to outputs. Meat Science. 92 (3). 244-251.

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Victor, K. and Barnard, A. Slaughtering for a living: A hermeneutic phenomenological perspective on the well-being of slaughterhouse employees. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well- being. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl es/PMC4841092/ [accessed 14 Dec. 2016].

Tuso, P.J., Ismail, M.H., Ha, B.P. and Bartolotto, C. (2013). Nutritional update for physicians: plant-based diets. The Permanente Journal. 17 (2). 61-66. USDA (1978). Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Available at: https://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/human e-methods-slaughter-act [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Velarde, A. and Dalmau, A. (2012). Animal welfare assessment at slaughter in Europe: Moving from 6355

Welfare Quality (2009a). Welfare Quality®: Science and society improving animal welfare in the food quality chain. Available at: http://www.welfarequality.net/everyone /26536/5/0/22 [accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Welfare Quality (2009b). Welfare Quality® Assessment protocol for cattle. Lelystad, Netherlands: Welfare Quality® Consortium. Available from:


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http://www.welfarequalitynetwork.net/n etwork/45848/7/0/40 [accessed 12 Dec. 2016]. World Animal Protection (2016). Animal Protection Index. Available at: http://api.worldanimalprotection.org/# [accessed 18 Oct. 2016]. Yeates, J.W. (2010). Death is a welfare issue. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 23 (3). 229241.

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Of Abandoned Character Clare Whitfield MA in Creative & Critical Writing Getting to Whitechapel Only now do I understand the enormity of the chaos and sprawl of London. I had travelled from Surrey by railway, a hideous experience of being shaken inside a wooden box. I made the rest of the journey on foot, eager to feel solid ground beneath me, my blistered feet a testament to every step. The further East I came, and the closer to Whitechapel, the more bewildered the faces of strangers when I asked for directions. ‘I’m going to be a nurse at The London Hospital.’ I offered by way of explanation although no one asked, smiling like an imbecile who had just escaped an asylum. My nerves were jangled by the fact that this was the furthest from home I’d ever been in my life, and I had yet to be murdered. This was a fate my late grandmother had

promised awaited all silly young girls who were drawn to the city of immorality and sin. I had been wary of who to approach for directions to the hospital, petrified that every other person would be of abandoned character. It would appear half the people in Whitechapel have black eyes and missing teeth while the other half are drunk. A certain amount of the population is unfortunate enough to suffer a combination of all three. Pavements were thick with limbs as I jostled my way amongst them. I flinched as shouting costermongers squawked about live birds and jellied eels, struggled not to get caught under horses legs or trip over the small boys holding their heads by the roadside. The gutter mud squelched underfoot, and I had to lift my skirts above the blood and urine flowing from the abattoirs, while trying to avoid being mown down by the next herd of sheep or cattle forced into them. If London were a respectable family, then Whitechapel would be the lunatic uncle locked in the attic that no 5868


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one speaks of, everyone waiting for the day they can breathe a sigh of relief when he naturally departs. There’s no brick wall or soldiers with bayonets on the gate, waiting to send you back for your own protection. The fence line is only one of disease and a palpable despair that gives off its own stench. I was to learn that the inhabitants eat, sleep, live and die all entombed in the damp dark behind blackened or boarded up windows. Death shares a damp straw with desire and they rub thighs together in fetid rooms, swollen heavy with souls all itching with lice. The walls ripple with insects and even the wallpaper peels itself away in disgust. Every other building, by rights, should be condemned. Amongst all this, The London Hospital is a shining beacon of regal holiness. It appears starkly set amongst the dark crumbling mess of Whitechapel Road like a blessed vision. A starched collar shimmering above the infestation of rats writhing below. 6959

I was but one rat who scurried inside, petrified a clerical error would see me back out again. I had spent the previous night in a lodging house, kept anxiously awake by strange human noises from the street; shouting, screaming, laughing, fighting. I had stared at the sagging ceiling above my head for fear it would cave in on me should I shut my eyes. This morning, the landlady informed me, with her raspy voice, that I could not have the porridge that came with my board because a mouse had drowned in it. There was no error at The London and they did expect me, so there I sat on a wooden bench in a long dark hallway, waiting for my interview with the Matron. Nurses glided about like starched icebergs in their stiff uniforms. It was impossible to imagine I could become one of them. The Matron’s portrait hung on the wall and she had more than a light resemblance of a young Queen Victoria. I was petrified and I struggled to swallow. Just as the last autumn leaves, all brittle and shaken loose by


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winter fall apart under the slightest touch, now I was sure I would crumble under the slightest pressure. I had plundered my last reserves of moral fibre to get this far and now terror gripped me as I tried to stop my knees clattering together. I felt a foolish mixture of pride at having got myself here, while harbouring the freakish feeling that I would be discovered as an imposter at any moment and sent away.

small frame. She ran a finger along the edge of the desk in front of her.

An interview with Miss Luckes

‘It’s not the brightest of rooms, is it?’ she said looking about as if she were still unfamiliar with it herself. ‘Oh no. I think it’s a fine room and such a magnificent desk.’ I instantly detested how pathetic that sounded. My attempt at flattery was both creeping and unnatural. I made a note not to do it again, better to be my dour self and take my chances. She fixed me with her heavy-lidded eyes and gave a wry little smile as if she had instantly read my thoughts, I blushed slightly and she made a gesture for me to sit down.

The Matron’s office was small and gloomy, save for a large window behind the desk which didn’t seem to benefit from much sunlight. Shelves were crammed with books, certificates butted against each other with only small gaps revealing a wall painted bottle green, colour that absorbed the small amount of natural light that made it in. Her desk was a behemoth, a large mahogany monster that dominated the room. Miss Luckes sat on the matching chair engulfing her

‘It was gifted to me from one of the Governors.’ She opened her small palms over the arms of her throne and heaved herself up. I saw that she sat on several cushions and I doubted her feet could touch the floor. My paperwork sat in the middle of the desk, I could see my name in my own handwriting upside down.

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‘I haven’t the heart to tell him I think it’s a beastly piece of furniture. Far too large and overwhelming. I imagine it should be with a Scottish Lord in his castle in the Highlands somewhere. But one must be grateful for such gestures, they represent much bigger things than a cumbersome desk.’ She walked to the front of the desk and balanced herself on the edge. She now loomed over me and locked me with her gaze again, smiled delicately and then picked up my paperwork and held it in front of her as if she were studying a piece of needlework. She had a roman nose, like Queen Victoria. Her uniform of black crinoline and white lace cap made her appear older than her physical years but you could see from her face with its smooth single-tone skin she was still young. She had a warm smile that she used often though it didn’t reach her eyes easily, and despite her diminutive stature and feminine manners, she had an air of coolness and authority 7161

which she now pressed on me. I kept my hands together on my lap for fear of fidgeting. ‘Perhaps you could elaborate on your application. You have indicated you wish to become a Sister Probationer as a daughter of a clergyman.’ She examined me with her head tilted. ‘Granddaughter, to be precise… Ma’am.’ I realised had no idea of how to properly address her. ‘You may call me Matron.’ She said. ‘Go on.’ ‘I came to live with my grandparents at the age of five, after my parents’ premature death from consumption. My Grandfather was a Salvationist Minister. I enjoyed a childhood amongst his flock and as part of the active congregation. We would often visit the local workhouse and help in the infirmaries, it was then that I first discovered my interest in nursing.’ I didn’t flinch as I repeated the piece I had been trained to recite since


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childhood. My mother had barely been more than child herself when she had run away with my father, a man of casual employment of twice her age. She found herself abandoned with a daughter, and died working as a prostitute. Worse still, some years later we were to hear that my father had died from an infection, after being stabbed in a drunken row over a stolen gammon. I can still see my grandmother quivering into her handkerchief from the indignity. ‘I don’t think workhouse infirmaries are a good foundation for nursing.’ Miss Luckes seemed less than impressed with my story. ‘A strange place to take a child, you must have witnessed some distressing scenes, even violence?’ My fingers instinctively reached to the scar on the left side of my temple and I quickly pretended to smooth down my hair. It had been the received when a tankard had been thrown at my grandfather by an angry pub landlord

during a protest, he missed and it had bounced off my ten-year old head. ‘My grandfather wanted me to learn the realities of life and understand what fate can befall a young woman if she is to make unwise choices, Matron. He was a passionate man and people respected him. He had a natural influence and a calm way of resolving most situations.’ I smiled my sweetest smile omitting that on that occasion, my grandfather’s calm resolution included grabbing the tankard thrower, smashing his teeth into the pavement and throwing him over the side of a wall while I sat startled, trying to stem the blood flowing from my head into my eyes with my hands. ‘It states here that you are now alone. No living relatives at all.’ She continued. ‘A month ago, my Grandmother passed. She had been suffering from a heavy cold and died peacefully in her bed. We were companions, I’m afraid 6272


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to say I had assumed she would live forever. Now I am alone, so it’s very important to find a vocation I can dedicate myself too.’ ‘I can understand that. It must be painful to be alone so young, that explains the timing but why nursing?’ she asked. ‘I’m a fast learner Matron. I don’t assume to know anything but I observe everything. My attention to detail is faultless, I am calm under pressure and I am not inclined to panic. I’m not frivolous. I have a strong stomach. I do not gossip. I have no interest in marriage and I think you’ll find I have quite an instinct when it comes to...matters of a medical instinct.’ My mind searched for the appropriate words and my toes squirmed inside my shoes as she considered my answers. Before my grandmother’s death, my life had looked set to continue tethered to the old woman. 7363

My escape from a life of boredom and isolation came as she was confined to her bed after a sickness and I heard her choking on the breakfast I had taken her moments before. I found myself hiding in the doorway, letting fate decide how it should play out rather than rushing to help. Now I was the sole inheritor of a house in Surrey, a small sum of money and my freedom. ‘And your grandfather, what became of him?’ she asked. ‘Oh, he was murdered Matron. In Banstead Workhouse around eight years ago, by a well-known lunatic.’ My delivery was a little too cheerful upon reflection. It burst forth so joyfully because it was absolutely true. Miss Luckes stood and walked back to her enormous chair, sat herself down and gave a heavy sigh. ‘Do you know what my biggest challenge is Miss Chapman?’


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‘I’m sure I don’t, Matron.’ ‘Young ladies, who think that nursing is wafting about the corridors in crinoline administering poultices to a few dashing officers before they waft off to get married. For some, nursing is a fashionable cause du jour.’ ‘I’m not here to look for a husband, Matron.’

Miss Luckes took a pen, dipped it delicately in the inkwell on her desk and signed her name at the bottom of my application in such slow purposeful strokes, I thought she may change her mind and I stopped breathing until she’d finished. ‘You can hand this to the Sister outside. Welcome to The London and good luck.’

‘I don’t doubt you think that. Do you have any idea how hard this has been? The sacrifices, the endless battles with governors to get the funds together for a nursing college, to make the changes that need to be made. It’s a constant fight. I can’t take risks on silly girls who make decisions on whims. Nursing is not for the ordinary woman, Miss Chapman.’ ‘Perhaps I can offer some reassurance Matron, I can’t recall an occasion I have ever been described as ordinary.’ ‘Well Miss Chapman, perhaps you will fit in after all. We shall see.’ 6474





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Should writers concern themselves with ethics? Tom Shuttleworth Year 3- Creative Writing Ethics can be defined as the manifestation of a society’s collective morality 1, usually codified and expressed as law or rules – though not exclusively. They are the tenets of the ‘social contract’ 2 we are born into, and dictate how we ought to live our lives. Ethics vary from society to society, and evolve over time as the beliefs of a society change 3. They permeate every aspect of our lives, whether we acknowledge them or not. For writers, this presents a moral dilemma: to try and adhere, or to challenge?

Foremost a writer’s work will be judged by its literary merit, but beyond that, it will be exposed to ethical criticism. Ethical criticism is judging to what extent a piece of art conforms to a society’s ethics. For a long time ethical criticism fell out of fashion; in The Company We Keep: An Ethics of Fiction by Wayne C. Booth, it is described as ‘A Banned Discipline’ 4. This is because it was widely recognized that a society cannot be relied upon to be a good measure of what is morally just or ‘good’: Ethical criticism is responsible for the term ‘degenerate art’ used by the axis powers of the early 20th century5. Ethical criticism was used to disparage and disassemble anything that

1

Frankena, William K. Ethics. Foundations of philosophy series. (University of Michigan Press, 1973). Pgs. 2 -11 2 Gough, J.W. The Social Contract: A Critical Study of Development. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.) Pg. 1 3 Singer, Peter, and Renata Singer. The moral of the story: An anthology of ethics through literature. (Blackwell Publishing 2005). Pg. XI

4

Booth, Wayne C. The company we keep: An ethics of fiction. (University of California Press, 1988.) Pg. 3 5 Fischer, Barbara, and Luís Madureira. "‘The barbarism of representation’: The Nazi critique of modern art and the American New Right's Kulturkampf." Patterns Of Prejudice 28, no. 34 (1994): 37-56. (Pg. 1)

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opposed the values espoused by these regimes. What it is important to note is that this was ‘ethically good’ by the standards of their societies. There is no such thing as objective ethics 6; they are always relative to their culture 7. Just as these societies railed against what they consider ‘degenerate behaviour,’ so do our societies today. Whether a writer agrees with ethical criticism or not, it has returned as a method of literary criticism. Fifty Shades of Grey is currently being lambasted for its ‘misogynistic view of BDSM’ 8, and Huckleberry Finn has 6

Brink, David Owen. Moral realism and the foundations of ethics. (Cambridge University Press, 1989.) Pg. 6 7 Singer, Peter, and Renata Singer. The moral of the story: An anthology of ethics through literature. (Blackwell Publishing 2005). Pg. XI 8 Flood, Alison. “Fifty Shades of Grey condemned as 'manual for sexual torture” http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/2 4/fifty-shades-grey-domestic-violencecampaigners [Last Accessed 29th February 2016]

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seen reprinting with the words Nigger and Injun removed due to their ‘offensiveness’9. It is certainly worth writer’s being aware of ethical criticism, and that their work will be exposed to it both upon release, and hundreds of years down the line. Even if a writer wishes to remain uncontroversial, there is little they can do to predict the ethics of the future. Written in 1988, The Company We Keep is a lament for this ‘lost art’ of ethical criticism. It acknowledges the potential problems of ethical criticism in the context of Huckleberry Finn: But suddenly the one black member of staff, Paul Moses, an assistant professor, committed what in the context seemed an outrage: an overt, serious, uncompromising act of ethical criticism. As his story was 9

Messent, Peter. “Censoring Mark Twain's 'nwords' is unacceptable.” http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/ 2011/jan/05/censoring-mark-twain-n-wordunacceptable [Last Accessed 29th of February 2016]


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reported in corridors and over coffee in the lounges, it went something like this: “It’s hard for me to say this but I have to say it anyway. I simply can’t teach Huckleberry Finn again. The way Mark Twain portrays Jim is so offensive to me that I get angry in class, I can’t get all those liberal white kids to understand why I am angry. What’s more I don’t think it’s right to subject students, black or white, to the many distorted views of race on which the book is based. No, it’s not the word ‘nigger’ that I am objecting to, it’s the whole range of assumptions about slavery and its consequences, and about how whites should deal with liberated slaves, and how liberated slaves should behave or will behave towards whites, good ones and bad ones. That book is just bad education, and the fact that it’s so cleverly written makes it even more troublesome to me.” When we teachers opposed Paul Moses,

we did so partly because we feared crediting him would open the floodgates to all kinds of censorship. 10 The passage shows an understanding on the part of Booth of a theoretical resurgence of censorship as a result of ethical criticism, but he goes on to dismiss it throughout the book. It’s a fascinating case of hindsight looking at how ethical criticism has gained traction: how we as a society have sleepwalked into a new censorship. 11 It is important that writers do not bow before the risk of censorship, no matter how highly strung the issue. Paul Moses was wrong: Huckleberry Finn is a withering criticism of race relations in the US, and the character of Jim serves as a compassionate 10

Booth, Wayne C. The company we keep: An ethics of fiction. (University of California Press, 1988.) Pg. 3 & 25 11 Furedi, Frank. Where have all the intellectuals gone?: confronting 21st century philistinism. (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006.) Pg. 46

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contrast to that of Huck’s moronic, uncaring father12. He is not the Uncle Tom some ethical critics have made him out to be. The character of Jim ‘endures and overcomes,’ ‘he is no rapist, no thief, nor is he gullible or stupid.’13 The mistake people make is to assume the opinions Jim puts across, because they are written in the language of an unlettered ex slave, are dim-witted. They are far from it. ‘He is far more to a careful reader, than the fool to Tom Sawyer or the other white men and women he encounters.’14 Similarly 21st century censors can’t seem to comprehend that it is Huckleberry Finn’s casual attitude towards racial slurs is integral to expressing the pervasive acceptance of these attitudes in the narrative. Booth was wrong: irony is the lost art

here. If Twain had considered that his use of irony might have been so grossly misunderstood a hundred years on, we might well have lost one of the late 19th century’s most important pieces of reconciliatory fiction. It cannot be stressed enough how much writers should not fear misreadings of their work, and yet be prepared for it to occur. The ethics of any society will inevitably be imperfect 15. There is an argument that writers should concern themselves with ethics to better society as a whole. Oscar Wilde took it upon himself in his writings in support of homosexuality - in full defiance of the ethics of his time. In the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray he wrote: ‘No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an

12

Chadwick-Joshua, Jocelyn. The Jim Dilemma: Reading Race in Huckleberry Finn. (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1998.) Pg. xxxii 13 Ibid. Pg. xxxii 14 Ibid Pg. xvi

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15

Lachmann, Peter. "Ethics evolve." European Review 21, no. S1 (2013): S109-S113. (Pgs. 1-5)


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unpardonable mannerism of style’ 16. Upon release The Picture of Dorian Gray was heavily criticised for its homosexual allusions. In spite of this, Wilde brought the topic of homosexuality back into discussion after centuries of repression. That is the job of writers, to stimulate debate in order to catalyse change.

meaningless. But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to avoid the repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is only upon the effects only, no change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the rationality that put it up is left standing, then that rationality will produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government. There’s so much talk about the system, and so little understanding. 17

Robert Pirsig does an eloquent job explaining the type of change writers can hope to achieve by challenging ethics, rather than the societal systems in which they operate: There’s no villain, no ‘mean guy’ who wants them [people] to live meaningless lives, it’s just that the structure, the system demands it and no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing the structure just because it is 16

Coates, Tim. The Trials of Oscar Wilde 1895: Transcript Excerpts from the Trials at the Old Bailey, London, During April and May 1895. (London: Fourth Estate 2001). Pg. 16

17

Pirsig, Robert M. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: An inquiry into values. (Random House, 1999.) Pgs. 101-102.

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It is this destruction or modification of the underlying thinking - the underlying ethics - that a writer must accomplish to achieve change if they so wish it.

you wish to be treated” – this concept has incarnations in every major religion 21(See Footnote). The list is 20

There is no responsibility on the part of a writer to make society ‘better’ or ‘good 18.’(See Footnote.) However, the very nature of writing and freethinking mean that if there are boundaries, writers will inevitably run into and cross them. For the purpose of this essay I will define good along the lines of ‘the universal human moral’ or ‘the golden rule’19 20. “Treat others how 18

What is good? This question merits several lifetimes of work, and I won’t attempt to intellectually entrench a definition here. To do so would require an essay within an essay. People often think an attempt to achieve ‘good’ is the thing that underpins ethics: It isn’t. Ethics are an attempt to satisfy the emotional needs of humans within a society, whilst still allowing that society to function. Ethics are merely rules. Whatever good is, it is something entirely separate. 19 Cunningham, W. Patrick. "The golden rule as universal ethical norm." Journal of Business Ethics 17, no. 1 (1998): 105-109. (Pg. 105)

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Singer, Marcus G. "The golden rule." Philosophy 38, no. 146 (1963): 293-314. (Pgs. 293-4) 21 Brahmanism – Post Vedic India: "This is the sum of Dharma [duty]: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you". Mahabharata, 5:1517 Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18 Christianity "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12, King James Version. Confucianism – China: “What I do not wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to men." Analects 15:23 Islam: None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." Number 13 of Imam "Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths. Jainism: A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated. "Sutrakritanga 1.11.33 Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary." Talmud, Shabbat 31a.


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universal, and stems from an empathy born of Darwinian necessity within group organisms: 22 There is genetic advantage in altruism 23. What do all these sayings have in common: Freedom of the individual from the tyranny of others. The sole universal moral of humanity is one of libertarianism. For this essay individual and intellectual freedom will be the definition of ‘good.’ A writer – not propagandist, a critic, or a zealot armed with a pen – but a writer, an intellectual, will be for open discussion of all topics and against tyranny, and as such they will cross the boundaries of ethics; whether they wish to, or not; whether they acknowledge it or not; they will be doing ‘good’ in the form of pushing 22

Wilson, David Sloan. Does altruism exist?: culture, genes, and the welfare of others. (Yale University Press, 2015.) Pgs. 1, 28, 55. 23 Pfaff, Donald W. Sandra Sherman. The Altruistic Brain: How We are Naturally Good. (Oxford University Press, USA, 2015.) Pg. 112

individual freedom of thought and discussion. To be a writer is to challenge ethics24. The starkest example of a writer, writing in defiance of ethics to achieve this ‘good,’ this liberty, is Frederick Douglass. A freed slave writing in the American civil war period, he took upon himself what Pirsig would describe as the “formidable task of changing structure,”25 to humanise his race. It seems a strange concept now, but this was the monumental task before him. The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass 26 is a detailed, 24

Whether you destroy or rewrite established ethics is irrelevant. All things must be challenged in order to ascertain their worth or ‘Quality.’ This can be done through the application of current/and different ethics to fictional situations, and in non-fiction, where real examples of current and past and potential future ethics can be debated. 25 Pirsig, Robert M. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: An inquiry into values. (Random House, 1999.) Pg. 101 26 Douglass, Frederick. Andrews, William L., ed. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, written by himself:

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emotional, and often gruesome account of the lives of slaves. It allowed men and women to see through the eyes of a slave, to feel the emotion and see & understand that people, regardless of race, are just as human as one another. 27 Douglass’s work and the role it played in the abolition of slavery cannot be understated. Writers must be aware of the consequences of challenging the ethics of their society. To challenge that which is stated as fact is a dangerous and litigious affair. Oscar Wilde, for all the esteem he is held in today, was dragged before the courts, bankrupted 28, and sentenced for authoritative text; contexts; criticism. Norton, 1997. 27 Cassuto, Leonard. "Frederick Douglass and the Work of Freedom: Hegel's Master-Slave Dialectic in the Fugitive Slave Narrative." Prospects 21 (1996): 229-259. (Pgs. 229-232) 28 Hall, Jean Graham, and Gordon D. Smith. Oscar Wilde: The Tragedy of Being Earnest. (Barry Rose Law Publishers, 2001.) Pg. 52

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indecent behaviour with men –buggery & moral corruption 29. Oscar Wilde was so abhorred by his critics because of his unwavering defense of his beliefs and his actions. The Prosecutor: “It is no use for me to address you, people who can do these things must be dead to all sense of shame, and one cannot hope to produce any effect upon them.” 30 Oscar Wilde did the maximum sentence of two years hard labour, drastically shortening his life. He relied on the support of friends for his remaining few years upon release. He died in poverty and intellectual exile. The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped 29

Coates, Tim. "The Trials of Oscar Wilde 1895: Transcript Excerpts from the Trials at the Old Bailey, London, During April and May 1895." (London: Fourth Estate 2001). Pg. 173 30 Ibid. 173


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at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. – H.L Mencken. 31 Mencken, for all his faults, is to the early 20th century, what Twain was to the late 19th. He provided the liberal atmosphere from which all viewpoints could be discussed in the next 50 years 32. His quote is particularly applicable to the Marquis De Sade, who, banned and detracted for years due to the fact he railed against his society’s ethics, did a great deal for female sexual agency and equality, especially in The Misfortunes of Virtue 33. Even Angela Carter acknowledges this: “Whatever else he does or does not say, Sade declares himself unequivocally of the right of

31

Mencken, Henry Louis. The Vintage Mencken. Vol. 25. (Vintage, 1955.) 32 Teachout, Terry. The Skeptic: A Life of HL Mencken. (HarperCollins, 2002.) 33 De Sade, Marquis, and David Coward. The misfortunes of virtue and other early tales. (Oxford Paperbacks, 1999.)

women to fuck.”34 The Marquis De Sade paid for his views on sex, and on atheism, with numerous imprisonments and bankruptcies, made easier by his declining mental state due his abuse of ‘The Spanish Fly’ – Cantharides, a drug that was first and foremost a poison. 35 36 If a writer fights against their society’s ethics, they must be prepared for the legal ramifications, even in a supposedly enlightened society such as 21st century Britain. A writer must be aware of current ethics and the threat they pose to freedom in writing: it is the antiintellectualism and willingness to litigate found in political correctness that is the greatest threat to writers 34

Carter, Angela. The Sadeian woman and the ideology of pornography. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.) Pg. 31 35 De Sade, Marquis, and David Coward. The misfortunes of virtue and other early tales. (Oxford Paperbacks, 1999.) Pg. X 36 Rosin, R. D. "Cantharides intoxication." Br Med J 4, no. 5570 (1967): 33-33. (Pg. 33)

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today. In the West, the ethics of the 21st century have become a ‘Dictatorship of Virtue’ 37 and insidiously & incorrectly portrayed as freedom or the ‘good’ formerly described in this essay. The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both. – Milton Friedman 38 Through the censorship of books like Huckleberry Finn, political correctness and complete refutation of any criticism directed at it, is limiting writers and free-thought. All the while it purports to hold a moral high ground. 37

Bernstein, Richard. Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the Battle for America's Future. (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 201 East 50th Street, New York, NY 10022., 1994.) Pg. 48 38 Friedman, Milton, and Rose Friedman. Free to choose: A personal statement. PBS Documentary ‘Created Equal’ Free to Choose Series (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1990.) Vol. 5

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For writers in the 21st century this is a huge obstacle yet to be overcome. Worse still, any intellectual refutation of political correctness is marred by association with the political far-right. Writers in the 21st century find themselves in the midst of political polarisation, extremes on both sides, and under attack by both. The best example of this dualistic censorship is the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi39. The book has seen censorship and removal from reading lists on both sides of the political spectrum. In parts of America, notably Chicago, it has seen removal due to ‘anti-American sentiment.’ In other parts of America and the West, it has seen removal due to ‘Islamophobia’ due to its criticism of Islam 40. While for

39

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. (New York: Pantheon Books, 2007.) 40 Berlatsky, Noah. Sex, Violence, and Radical Islam: Why Persepolis Belongs in Public Schools. (The Atlantic, 2013) http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/20 13/03/sex-violence-and-radical-islam-why-


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writers it could be a moment of despair – you can’t write without offending some part of the political spectrum it’s better to take it as a moment of freedom. You’re doomed to offend, so carry on and do some ‘good’. Writers cannot ignore ethics. Ethics are more than just a set of rules to be agreed or disagreed with; they are the thought & the necessity behind them. They are one of Pirsig’s Ghosts 41; ethics are something that exist beyond their physical form in law: ethics are an idea; they are the rules by which any society operates. You cannot have a society without having ethics, the definition of a society necessitates them. As such, writers have to be aware their work will examined through the lens of ethics, both present and future. Writers must be aware that ethics of any society will be imperfect because compromise is persepolis-belongs-in-public-schools/274152/ th [Last accessed 8 March 2016] 41 Pirsig, Robert M. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: An inquiry into values. (Random House, 1999.) Pg. 40 - 45

necessitated by cooperation. Writers must understand that merely by writing you will be challenging ethics and assessing their ‘quality’ 42. Writers must be aware that by doing this, they may risk their freedom and their lives; but they make take satisfaction in the knowledge that by doing this, they have a chance of pushing ethics ever so slightly toward the universal ‘good’ of individual and intellectual liberty.

Bibliography Berlatsky, Noah. Sex, Violence, and Radical Islam: Why Persepolis Belongs in Public Schools. (The Atlantic, 2013) http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc hive/2013/03/sex-violence-and-radicalislam-why-persepolis-belongs-inpublic-schools/274152/ [Last accessed 8th March 2016]

42

Pirsig, Robert M. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: An inquiry into values. (Random House, 1999.) Pg. 129

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Bernstein, Richard. Dictatorship of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the Battle for America's Future. (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 201 East 50th Street, New York, NY 10022., 1994.) Booth, Wayne C. The company we keep: An ethics of fiction. (University of California Press, 1988.) Brink, David Owen. Moral realism and the foundations of ethics. (Cambridge University Press, 1989.) Carter, Angela. The Sadeian woman and the ideology of pornography. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.) Cassuto, Leonard. "Frederick Douglass and the Work of Freedom: Hegel's Master-Slave Dialectic in the Fugitive Slave Narrative." Prospects 21 (1996): 229-259. Chadwick-Joshua, Jocelyn. The Jim Dilemma: Reading Race in Huckleberry Finn. (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1998.) 8977

Coates, Tim. The Trials of Oscar Wilde 1895: Transcript Excerpts from the Trials at the Old Bailey, London, During April and May 1895. (London: Fourth Estate 2001). Cunningham, W. Patrick. "The golden rule as universal ethical norm." Journal of Business Ethics 17, no. 1 (1998): 105-109. De Sade, Marquis, and David Coward. The misfortunes of virtue and other early tales. (Oxford Paperbacks, 1999.) Douglass, Frederick. Andrews, William L., ed. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, written by himself: authoritative text; contexts; criticism. Norton, 1997. Fischer, Barbara, and Luís Madureira. "‘The barbarism of representation’: The Nazi critique of modern art and the American New Right's Kulturkampf." Patterns Of Prejudice 28, no. 3-4 (1994): 37-56.


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Flood, Alison. “Fifty Shades of Grey condemned as 'manual for sexual torture” http://www.theguardian.com/books/20 12/aug/24/fifty-shades-grey-domesticviolence-campaigners [Last Accessed 29th February 2016] Frankena, William K. Ethics. Foundations of philosophy series. (University of Michigan Press, 1973.) Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and freedom. (University of Chicago press, 2009.) Friedman, Milton, and Rose Friedman. Free to choose: A personal statement. PBS Documentary ‘Created Equal’ Free to Choose Series (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1990.) Vol. 5 Furedi, Frank. Where have all the intellectuals gone? confronting 21st century philistinism. (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006.)

Gough, J.W. The Social Contract: A Critical Study of Development. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.) Hall, Jean Graham, and Gordon D. Smith. Oscar Wilde: The Tragedy of Being Earnest. (Barry Rose Law Publishers, 2001.) Lachmann, Peter. "Ethics evolve." European Review 21, no. S1 (2013): S109-S113. Mencken, Henry Louis. The Vintage Mencken. Vol. 25. (Vintage, 1955.) Messent, Peter. “Censoring Mark Twain's 'n-words' is unacceptable.” http://www.theguardian.com/books/bo oksblog/2011/jan/05/censoring-marktwain-n-word-unacceptable [Last Accessed 29th of February 2016] Pfaff, Donald W. Sandra Sherman. The Altruistic Brain: How We are Naturally Good. (Oxford University Press, USA, 2015.) Pirsig, Robert M. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: An inquiry into values. (Random House, 1999.) 7890


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Rosin, R. D. "Cantharides intoxication." Br Med J 4, no. 5570 (1967): 33-33. Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. (New York: Pantheon Books, 2007.) Singer, Marcus G. "The golden rule." Philosophy 38, no. 146 (1963): 293314. Singer, Peter, and Renata Singer. The moral of the story: An anthology of ethics through literature (Blackwell Publishing 2005). Teac, Terry. The Skeptic: A Life of HL Mencken. (HarperCollins, 2002.) Wilson, David Sloan. Does altruism exist?: culture, genes, and the welfare of others. (Yale University Press, 2015.)

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With Fire and Sword: William the Conqueror’s ‘Harrying of the North’ and the Northern resistance Adam Christian Drake MA History For the English 1066 proved to be an apocalyptic year as the Norman tide ‘swept away the great magnates’, 1 William of Malmesbury succinctly adding that Hastings was ‘a fatal disaster for our dear country as she exchanged old masters for new’. 2 Yet, although Hastings was pivotal, it was not final in subduing the entirety of England to the Normans; the North posed a more troubling question. For William, three vital aspects remained in his ambition to be king of all 1

Ann Williams, The English and the Norman Conquest (Woodbridge, 1995), 2. See also, R.H.C. Davis, ‘The Norman Conquest’, History, 51:173 (1966), 279. 2 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum: The History of the English Kings, (ed. and trans.), R.A.B. Mynors, R.M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom, i (Oxford, 1998), 457. William of Malmesbury, an AngloNorman chronicler, was almost certainly writing in hindsight, between 1120 and 1140.

England, firstly, that the strength of his people, the “gens Normannorum”, remain intact mainly so that Normandy certified its dominance in northern France; secondly, the relentless threat of a Scandinavian attack be repelled at all cost, and thirdly, the surviving remnants of opposition north of the Trent be brought to heel. 3 All three aspects which faced William’s enterprise hampered his ambitions throughout the Conquest. The strength of Normandy’s borders were pushed to the limits as William’s Norman force found itself spread across a vast stretch of territory. The very real threat of invasion from Scandinavia presented William with a dilemma on a different scale as they posed as an ideal ally for the northern English, whilst exposing the weaknesses of the east coast. Finally, however, it was the persistence of the northerners refusal to be ruled by a foreigner, a fear that

3

David C. Douglas, William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England (London, 1964), 211.

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‘their antique world was in jeopardy’, 4 which led to what has become arguably one of the most contentious episodes of the Conquest, the Harrying of the North. The northerners’ resistance to outside rule had its roots firmly placed in the previous decade when Tostig held the earldom (1055-1065). For Edward the Confessor this was a chance to bring the North into closer contact with the South and the rest of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Yet, Tostig proved to be an inefficient ruler, refusing to build upon northern defences whilst imposing a rise in taxation. 5 Prior to Tostig’s appointment, the North had only ever flirted with the wider sphere of southern jurisdiction in 829 when Ecgberht, King of the West Saxons, had received the ‘submission and

4

William E. Kapelle, The Norman Conquest of the North (London, 1979), 87. 5 Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 94-96. The young Waltheof was bypassed as earl, along with Cospatric.

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peace’ 6 of the Northumbrians at Dore, in turn becoming Ecgberht byrtenwalda. 7 Even then control of the North was limited from the South due to both the rugged landscape and its overriding emphasis of heritage. The earls naturally descended from the House of Bamburgh, and in Yorkshire, although on one occasion a Mercian resided as earl, the subsequent holders of the title were either of Anglo-Danish origin, or Scandinavian, a West Saxon never held direct rule in either province. 8 Thus, Tostig’s appointment was significant; the first southern earl to hold any power in the North. This, however, was to leave deep-seated scars, fuelling the resistance to William’s invasion. 9

6

English Historical Documents, c.500-1042, (ed.), Dorothy Whitelock, i (London, 1955), 186. 7 Nicholas J. Higham and Martin J. Ryan, The Anglo-Saxon World (London, 2015), 241. Byrtenwalda roughly translating as wide-ruler. 8 Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 87. Earl Aelfhelm the subsequent Mercian. 9 Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 100.


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Harrying as an Art of War What ensued in 1069-70 was neither novel nor spontaneous, yet the widespread devastation of the North was a calculated and ruthless approach to dampen the remaining embers of resistance. For the northerners the harrying was the end to a period beginning with the removal of Tostig in 1065, and culminating in the death and destruction of the Norman garrisons at both Durham and York in 1069. The initial troubles came as a result of the earl’s colossal failure to win-over the native population, coupled with an invasion from Scotland which saw much of Lancashire laid waste ‘to such an extent that many of the estates there remained without a lord until after the Norman Conquest’. 10 Disaffection had been growing since Edward the Confessor’s reign, yet William’s lack of local knowledge ultimately pushed the northerners to breaking point. The appointment of Copsig to the earldom 10

Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 93.

of Northumbria, a former associate of Tostig, 11 followed by two heavy taxes, most likely as a result of raising and paying for troops and mercenaries, coupled with the rapid castle building project which began to take place throughout 1069 from Warwick, Nottingham and Lincoln, 12 prompted a response from the northerners in defence of their customs and privileges. Inevitably, William opted for a more hands-on approach in gaining control in the North, turning to an influential figure from the continent. The succession to the Northumbrian earldom of the Fleming Robert de Comines in the wake of Copsig’s failure in 1069 was the furthest any loyalist to William’s cause had

11

Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 107. Copsig, an associate of the late Tostig, met a gruesome end, being decapitated at the hands of Osulf, a Northumbrian vying for the title, as he fled from a burning church. 12 Higham and Ryan, The Anglo-Saxon World, 412.

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ventured. 13 Northern resistance, however, had alternative plans. According to the ‘D’ version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 14 Robert was ambushed as ‘the people of the county surrounded him in the city of Durham and killed him and nine hundred men with him’. 15 Further to the attack in Durham, a second incident in York involving the death of Robert 13

David Bates, William the Conqueror (New Haven, 2016), 303. 14 There are three versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ‘C’, ‘D’, and ‘E’, or alternatively they are collectively known as the “Abingdon Chronicle”, the “Worcester Chronicle”, and the “Peterborough Chronicle”. The “D” Chronicle has been utilised in this study due to its tendency to refer to the problems in the North and in Scandinavia much more than its counterparts. This has led many Historians to believe that the “D” Chronicle may have been compiled in York or thereabouts, rather than at Worcester. 15 English Historical Documents, 1042-1189, (ed.), David C. Douglas and George W. Greenaway, ii (London, 1953), 149. The Comines attack took place on 28 January 1069, significantly out of the campaigning season, and most likely to the satisfaction of the King of Scots, who would have been aware of the large Norman force that was present.

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fitzRichard, the governor of York, left the castle garrison there the single most isolated Norman force north of the Humber. 16 The sudden change in fortunes for the English resurgence had ultimately brought about the arrival of the young prince, Edgar Atheling, the brother earls Edwin and Morcar, and with them popular support in the form of the sheriff of Lincolnshire, Maerlswein, as well as key members of the house of Bamburgh, Arnketel and Karl. 17 It was a coalition to withstand the Norman occupation, yet William’s swift arrival at York, taking the rebels by surprise, provides a glimpse of William’s efficiency in quelling any localised disturbance. Here, the ‘D’ Chronicle claims ‘King William came on them by surprise from the south with an overwhelming army and routed them and killed those who could not escape, which was many hundreds of men, and ravaged the city’. 18 16

Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 112. Bates, William the Conqueror, 304. 18 EHD, 1042-1189, 149-150. 17


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Although William had managed to defeat the English uprising the return of an Anglo-Danish force later in the year was proof enough that the Norman Conqueror had underestimated northern resistance. According to John of Worcester, ‘Harold and Cnut, the sons of Swein, king of the Danes, and their uncle earl Osbeorn, and earl Thorkell came with 240 ships from Denmark and landed at the mouth of the Humber. There the atheling Edgar, earl of Waltheof, and Maerlswein and many others joined them’. 19 The threat of a Scandinavian invasion became a reality for William, yet the alliance between the northern English and the Danes can be placed in the previous centuries of crossNorth Sea interaction and the inevitable ancestral bonds. As a result, John of Worcester emphasised the Norman garrisons panic as they ‘began setting fire to the houses near

the castle as they feared that they might be of use to the Danes in filling up the castle’s ditch’, and that ‘The fire spread too far, encroached on the whole city and burned it together with the monastery of St Peter’. 20 The attempt to create a widespread fire may have been a result of a hasty attempt to cause havoc, sparing time for a retreat. The ‘D’ Chronicle states that the Anglo-Danish force then ‘went resolutely to York, and stormed and razed the castle and captured an incalculable treasure in it and killed many hundreds of Frenchmen, and took many with them to the ships’. 21 For a second time William arrived in York ‘with all his army that he could collect, and utterly ravaged and laid waste that shire’. 22 What followed throughout 1070 was the systematic destruction of the North, an attempt to produce an ‘artificial famine’, 23 and wipe-out a

19

The Chronicle of John of Worcester: Volume III, The Annals from 1067 to 1140 with the Gloucester Interpolations and the Continuation to 1141, (ed. and trans.), P. McGurk, (Oxford, 1998), 9.

20

John of Worcester, 9. EHD, 1042-1189, 150. 22 EHD, 1042-1189, 151. 23 Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 119. 21

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population unwilling to cooperate with the new Norman authority. After the destruction William ‘sent groups of soldiers throughout the Vale of York and the major river valleys with orders to harry the peasants’; 24 it was no longer a war against a rebellious group of earls, William had turned his attention to the destruction of the lower classes. Here, the Norman force massacred peasants; burned villages, grain and livestock, whilst making sure crops could not be planted for the following year, ensuring that all ploughs and farm tools were destroyed. 25 Widespread famine spread throughout Yorkshire, Lancashire and Northumbria, forcing many to enter into slavery or join the bands of outlaws 26 such as Eadric ‘the Wild’ had done having fought against the Norman garrison at Hereford in 1067 before seeking refuge in the woods along the Welsh border. 27 The

inhumane conditions prompted John of Worcester to claim that ‘famine so prevailed that men ate the flesh of horses, dogs, cats and human beings’. 28 For William, however, it was a success, as Douglas argues ‘King William’s campaign of 1069-1070 must rank as one of the outstanding military achievements of the age’, proving ‘decisive in ensuring that Norman domination of England would endure’. 29 Yet, it has been William’s methods through the systematic destruction which has marred his campaign, consigning it to a scorched earth policy. According to Orderic Vitalis, ‘Nowhere else had William shown such cruelty’, where ‘He cut down many in his vengeance; destroyed the lairs of others; harried the land and burned homes to ashes’. 30 It is through William’s anger, vented on the ordinary folk, that Orderic is unable to commend him in

24

28

Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 118. Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 118. 26 Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 119. 27 EHD, 1042-1189, 174. 25

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John of Worcester, 11. Douglas, William the Conqueror, 220. 30 R. Allen Brown, The Norman Conquest (London, 1984), 103. 29


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his deeds, claiming ‘that such a barbarous homicide should not pass unpunished’; 31 it is here in which William’s actions proved decisive in solidifying his control over both kingdom and duchy.

A Kingdom of Fire and Ash The harrying which took place throughout 1069-70 was particularly ferocious, Orderic succinctly describing how William went to great lengths in which to hunt down and uproot native society from the most desolate areas, searching through ‘forests and remote mountainous places, stopping at nothing to hunt out the enemy hidden there’. 32 However, the Harrying of the North, which stretched as far west as Cheshire, throughout the Pennine region, Yorkshire and the east coast was nothing new, harrying as a tactic in 31

Douglas, William the Conqueror, 221. John Palmer, ‘War and Domesday Waste’, in Matthew Strickland, (ed.), Armies, Chivalry and Warfare in Medieval Britain and France, Proceedings of the 1995 Harlaxton Symposium, (Stamford, 1998), 264. 32

wartime was initiated in order to suit many purposes. Primarily, the ravaging of a landscape could bring about both its destruction, making the environment untenable, which in turn would reduce the threat of any revenge attack or resistance, as was successfully carried out during William’s campaign in the North. It also provided an opportunity to reap the rewards of plunder, something in which the Viking raids of the eighth and ninth centuries had become accustomed to. For William the ideology behind such motivated harrying was far from mere destruction, but resembled a frequent practice in which to prove that a local ruler was ineffective in providing adequate protection for his people and land; a sculpted attempt to draw him into battle as Harold found out on the eve of Hastings. 33 At Hastings the ravaging of the landscape was a necessity in order to feed the Norman troops, yet the report given to Harold 33

Bates, William the Conqueror, 235.

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Although harrying was a strategy clearly utilised by many societies throughout the period, primarily located around areas of struggle, it would seem that during the eleventh century much of the harrying became centralised around the Norman presence. According to Henry of Huntingdon, ‘In King William’s fifth year [1071], Earls Morcar and Edwin took to ravaging through fields and woods’, whilst in 1073 ‘the king led an army of Englishmen and Frenchmen to Maine’, where ‘The English destroyed that land’ making it subject to the

king. 35 Although Henry of Huntingdon wrote in hindsight, during the reign of King Stephen (1135-1154), his depiction of Edwin and Morcar as noble earls turned to harrying portrays a desperate resistance to Norman occupation, whilst in 1073 it is the English in the Norman force who are depicted as harrying the landscape around Maine. Although it is highly unlikely that the harrying was solely conducted by Englishmen, the term simply representing those nationalities within the Norman force to have crossed the Channel from England, it is pivotal to understanding harrying as a method of war, it was a widely accepted use of attack, and in this regard William cannot be condemned on grounds that it was a strategy of eleventh century warfare. Yet, William has been scrutinised for his actions due to the wanton vengeance in which he bestowed on

34

35

that William’s forces were ‘seizing boys and girls, and the widows also; and at the same time all the beasts’; 34 proved that harrying and slavery, on this occasion, became intermingled. If a king could not protect his realm then royal power became limited and open to intervention.

The Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy Bishop of Amiens, (ed.), Catherine Morton and Hope Muntz (Oxford, 1972), 12-13. See also Bates, William the Conqueror, 235.

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Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum: The History of the English People, (ed. and trans.), D. Greenway, (Oxford, 1996), 397-399.


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the northerners. The endless columns of refugees that headed as far south as Evesham left a legacy of anguish at Norman brutality. Simeon of Durham, a twelfth century chronicler with local knowledge of the destruction, spoke of ‘the land deprived of anyone to cultivate it, reduced for nine years to an extensive solitude’, where ‘There was no village inhabited between York and Durham’. 36 The distrust of the new regime was widespread; the Normans for their part rising to the challenge, exploiting the peasantry, becoming the ‘masters of the ravage’. 37 Thus, throughout the 1070s the North gradually became a part of a vast Norman hegemony as Frenchmen replaced Anglo-Scandinavians in key places; in York alone 145 properties were handed over to the newcomers. 38 England had become ‘the residence of foreigners and the property of strangers’ according to William of 36

David Carpenter, The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284 (London, 2003), 77. 37 Carpenter, The Struggle, 77-78. 38 Carpenter, The Struggle, 78.

Malmesbury; the landscape once ‘rich in pasture’ and the cities ‘so famous’ had been reduced to their former selves, prompting ‘sighs if he is a stranger, and if he is a native…, he does not recognize them’. 39 Small pockets of resistance did arise during the 1070s, such as the famous Lincolnshire mercenary Hereward the Wake, who threw out the French occupant of his home, swearing to pursue the killers of his younger brother, 40 however, by 1086 the effects were widespread. Here, in the Domesday Book survey, only four Englishmen were recorded as major landholders, ‘Edward of Salisbury, Gospatric son of Arnkell, Thorkell of Warwick and Colswein of Lincoln’, 41 yet these were only ‘political hybrids’ of the new regime. 42 William had 39

Gesta Regum, 465. See also Carpenter, The Struggle, 80. 40 Elisabeth van Houts, ‘Hereward and Flanders’, Anglo-Saxon England, 28 (1999), 205. 41 Carpenter, The Struggle, 79. 42 David Crouch, The Normans: The History of a Dynasty (London, 2002), 108.

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managed to overcome the sporadic resistance, however, the political musings of Philip I of France, the flexing powers of his own son Robert Curthose, and the resulting lack of control across Normandy’s borders stretched William’s forces too thin; the North had become synonymous with control of the duchy, forcing much of William’s attention away from affairs back home. William had conducted the Harrying of the North with sheer ferocity and retribution; it began as a state of emergency against the rebellion of Edgar Atheling, the ever-present threat from Danish invasion, and the insecurity in northern France, yet it became an entirely different conquest from that of 1066. For William it was wrought with the paranoia of defeat, of losing the wealth and stature that he had inherited since Hastings. That William succeeded in keeping the kingdom intact pays testimony to his perseverance and his prowess as a military tactician. Bates argues that 10591

Norman colonization simply survived through the composed mixture of ‘peoples from Normandy and other parts of France’, and through the ‘military domination by a relatively small group’, 43 one that was aided by its intrusive castle building enterprise. The native populations that did not want to adhere to their new foreign ruler were ultimately forced into exile, seeking refuge in the woods and hills. 44 Orderic’s portrayal of a rather remorseful Conqueror in 1087 lamenting, “I commanded their houses and corn, with all their implements and chattels, to be burnt without distinction, and large herds of cattle and beasts of burden to be butchered wherever they were found’, 45 suggests the consequential nature of the harrying. Yet the king’s conduct throughout the final twenty years of his life was triggered by necessity. The survival of the Anglo-Norman kingdom and the 43

Bates, ‘Normandy and England after 1066’, 856. 44 Kapelle, The Norman Conquest, 165. 45 EHD, 1042-1189, 286.


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strength of Norman hegemony balanced on William’s decision making, and, although flirting with the ethics of medieval warfare of the eleventh century, William proved both a competent and ruthless king, repelling an almost constant threat of invasion.

Bibliography PrimaryThe Carmen de Hastingae Proelio of Guy Bishop of Amiens, (ed.), Morton, Catherine and Muntz, Hope, (Oxford, 1972) The Chronicle of John of Worcester: Volume III, The Annals from 1067 to 1140 with the Gloucester Interpolations and the Continuation to 1141, (ed. and trans.), McGurk, P., (Oxford, 1998) The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, (ed. and trans.), Chibnall, M., iii (London, 1972)

The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, (ed. and trans.), Chibnall, M., iv (Oxford, 1973) English Historical Documents, c.5001042, (ed.), Whitelock, Dorothy, i (London, 1955) English Historical Documents, 10421189, (ed.), Douglas, David, C., and Greenaway, George, W., ii (London, 1953) Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum: The History of the English People, (ed. and trans.), Greenway, D., (Oxford, 1996) William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum: The History of the English Kings, (ed. and trans.), Mynors, R.A.B.; Thomson, R.M., and Winterbottom, M., i (Oxford, 1998)

Secondary Allen Brown, R., The Norman Conquest (London, 1984) 92106


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Bates, David, ‘Normandy and England after 1066’, The English Historical Review, 104:413 (1989), 851-880 Bates, David, William the Conqueror (New Haven, 2016) Carpenter, David, The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284 (London, 2003) Crouch, David, The Normans: The History of a Dynasty (London, 2002) Douglas, David, C., William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact upon England (London, 1964) Higham, Nicholas, J., and Ryan, Martin, J., The Anglo-Saxon World (London, 2015) Kapelle, William, E., The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and its Transformation, 1000-1135 (London, 1979)

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Le Patourel, John, The Norman Empire (Oxford, 1976) Strickland, Matthew, (ed.), Armies, Chivalry and Warfare in Medieval Britain and France, Proceedings of the 1995 Harlaxton Symposium, (Stamford, 1998) van Houts, Elisabeth, ‘Hereward and Flanders’, Anglo-Saxon England, 28 (1999), 201-223 Warren Hollister, C., ‘Normandy, France and the Anglo-Norman Regnum’, Speculum, 51:2 (1976), 202242 Williams, Ann, The English and the Norman Conquest (Woodbridge, 1995)


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Recognising Australia’s indigenous explorers Tom Watson MA History In Australian history, which portrays the First Australians as victims, there is a group of indigenous people who are as fundamentally important to national heritage as the wellrecognised white explorers. Yet, they play only a minor part in the white narrative about the country and none in the indigenous history since 1788. These are the aboriginal guides who were alongside some of the major names of Australian exploration in the nineteenth century – Thomas Mitchell, Charles Sturt, Ludwig Leichhardt, Edward Eyre, Edmund Kennedy, John and Alexander Forrest - and brave and intrepid explorers in their own right. For them, the journey from their tribal region into unknown territory was as problematic and personally threatening as it was for the white explorers. They brought their language, bush-craft

skills and social knowledge, but the further they travelled from their home area, the greater their linguistic skills diminished and the higher were their chances of being perceived as an equal threat as the white explorers they guided. 1 The guides are largely unrecognized in Australian history. This article argues they should be given higher status in the national story and that of indigenous people world-wide. Few historians, other than Henry Reynolds, have recognised the guides for their essential role as ambassadors to other indigenous people and as fellow explorers? Nearly two hundred and thirty years after Captain Arthur Phillip established the colony at Port Jackson (now Sydney) in 1788, their names and deeds should be as well-known as the British and European explorers who have dominated the national narrative since the mid-late Victorian era. 1

Henry Reynolds, Black Pioneers (Ringwood, Australia, 2000), 17-59.

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Yuranigh Two miles east of Molong on the Mitchell Highway in central New South Wales (NSW) is a left turn to Yuranigh Road. Drive for half a mile and you will notice a parking point on the left and a sign to Yuranigh’s grave. Open the gate and drive along to the parking area and there is an extraordinary symbol of recognition and respect for a little-known indigenous explorer and guide, which was set up over one hundred and sixty years ago. The grave, surrounded by a low wooden fence in an open field, comprises a gravestone with extensive and effusive text at head of a stone grave. Yuranigh was the lead guide to the explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell’s fourth and longest expedition in 1845/6. The grave is testament to a rare, highly respectful relationship between a white man and an indigenous Australian in the midnineteenth century. Yet it is little known. The gravestone, organised by Mitchell soon after Yuranigh’s death, reads: 11397

TO NATIVE COURAGE HONESTY AND FIDELITY YURANIGH WHO ACCOMPANIED THE EXPEDITION OF DISCOVERY INTO TROPICAL AUSTRALIA 1846 LIES BURIED HERE ACCORDING TO THE RITES OF HIS COUNTRYMEN AND THIS SPOT WAS DEDICATED AND ENCLOSED BY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL’S AUTHORITY IN 1852 In the same field is the last remnant of a sacred tree that the local Wiradjuri people had placed to recognise Yuranigh who had been highly respected and possibly a leader of his tribe in the Orange and Molong area. Yuranigh joined Mitchell’s expedition in December 1845. He worked as a guide and negotiator and gained the


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notoriously fractious explorer’s friendship and deep respect. He safely guided the 12-month-long expedition, which travelled north into what is now central Queensland, through the territories of other tribes in very hot drought conditions. Yuranigh was the expedition’s diplomat and liaised with local aboriginals, secured guides, and tracked wandering stock and lost members of the party. Mitchell made many references to Yuranigh in his records. The first came three weeks after the start of the journey when he tracked and brought back to camp three cattle that had strayed. The Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) notes that Yuranigh “was frequently and gratefully referred to for finding water, scanning the country from lofty trees, pacifying the Aborigines who shadowed the expedition, and generally imparting bush lore.” 2 2

Yuranigh, ?-1850, Australian Dictionary of Biography,

At the end of the expedition in late 1846, Mitchell wrote of his ‘guide, companion, counsellor and friend’ that: …his intelligence and his judgment rendered him so necessary to me that he was ever at my elbow … Confidence in him was never misplaced. He well knew the character of all the white men in the party. Nothing escaped his penetrating eye and quick ear. Yuranigh was particularly clean in his person, frequently washing, and his glossy shining black hair, always well-combed, gave him an uncommonly clean and decent appearance. 3 Yuranigh was a small slender man who had adopted some European ways and wore European style clothing by the time he was recruited by Mitchell. He and another guide, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/yuranigh2829. 3 Derek Parker, Outback – The Discovery of Australia’s Interior (Stroud, 2007), 60.

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Dicky, returned with Mitchell to Sydney as the expedition completed its travels. They were rewarded with small gratuities but Yuranigh tired of Sydney and went to work as a stockman in northern NSW. He found his way back to the Molong area and died in early 1850. After his death, Yuranigh’s people marked his grave with traditional carved trees. Mitchell obtained government consent to fence the site and paid for a European-style headstone with its effusive recognition of the local guide’s “Native Courage” and “Honesty and Fidelity.” In 1900, the government renovated the headstone which was re-erected on a base of Molong marble. It is notable that Yuranigh gained Mitchell’s confidence and deep respect in such a public manner, although the Surveyor-General mostly had good relationships with aboriginal guides in his three previous expeditions, but the one with Yuranigh appears to have 11599

been of high mutual respect. In the first expedition Jerram quickly deserted, and was replaced by Mr Brown. 4 In the 1836 expedition, “The Bathurst Aborigine” guide known as John Piper was rewarded with clothing including Mitchell’s red coat and a feathered cocked hat. As well as old guns and blankets, Piper was given a breastplate with the ‘Conqueror of the Interior’ inscription which he had chosen. Reynolds comments that while his reward was little, “the preferred inscription gave clear recognition of the crucial role played by Aboriginal advisers and Aboriginal expertise in the exploration and settlement of Australia.” 5

Aboriginal ambassadors Yuranigh is the most evidently recognised of those indigenous guides, whom the Reynolds titles as “aboriginal ambassadors.” Without these guides, it is unlikely that the exploration of Australia would have 4 5

Ibid., 39. Reynolds, 2000, op. cit., 17.


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progressed so swiftly. They were partners in it but their skill, knowledge and diplomacy are under-recognised. Although none mounted an expedition, as they had neither access to funds nor organisational power, some were more than just guides. In many cases, they were as much a part of the exploration team as subordinate white men. Often, they placed themselves in danger because they were perceived as threatening strangers in the same manner that white men were. For indigenous people, the threat to their women, land and freedom had traditionally come from other tribes. So, a John Piper and Yuranigh was a much a stranger as the pale-skinned explorers. Their skills included identifying existing tracks for the explorers to follow, finding sources of water, using local knowledge and gathering intelligence about the tribes in the direction of travel, and applying bush craft to aid white men unused to

the Australian climate and landscape. 6 Yuranigh negotiated with tribesmen even though he did not speak their language and, after one slow and delicate negotiation, induced a young man whose language he did not understand to guide Mitchell’s party to a river. 7 Many tracks identified by these indigenous advisers soon became important paths for trade and communication and later developed into roads.

In the margins The Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) refers to twelve names in its ‘indigenous guide’ category. Some like Yuranigh, Jackey Jackey and Wylie are linked to the famous explorers like Mitchell, Edmund Kennedy and Edward Eyre. Jackey Jackey and Wylie’s stories have been told to generations of Australians as examples of loyal aboriginals. Less well known, although recorded in the ADB, are Bungaree, Colebe, 6 7

Reynolds, 2000, op. cit., 25-48. Ibid., 45.

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Cubadgee, Mokare, Tommy Windich and Erlikilyika. Many others are only mentioned in the margins of explorers’ reports. Some are just recorded as “four aboriginals” or “the natives.” They range from Governor Philip’s guide Colebe, Bolandree and Colbee who aided Watkin Tench’s early explorations from the Port Jackson colony to the Nepean and Hawkesbury river system, to Bongaree who accompanied Matthew Flinders on his exploration to Moreton Bay and the later 1802 circumnavigation of the continent. Also recorded in some detail are Charley Fisher and Harry Brown who were guides to Ludwig Leichhardt’s second, successful expedition from Brisbane to Port Essington in 1844. The records of Charles Sturt’s extensive exploration in south eastern areas only record the names of Nadbuck and Jacky (Camboli) in his final 1844-45 search for the fabled inland sea, but not in two earlier 117101

expeditions of river systems in NSW and Victoria. In the first forty years of the NSW colony, the guides were given anglicised versions of their tribal name other than Moowattin who was also known as Daniel. The reports of many early explorers from 1789 to 1830, however, often don’t mention the indigenous guides. They were nonpeople, but appear to have been widely employed. By mid-century, the use of familiar white nicknames was common. For the next 60 years of exploration, reports are littered with Bob, Billy, Charlie or Charley, Daniel, Dick, Dicky, Harry, Jimmy, Joey, John, Tommy and even a rather formal Warwick (Parunda) in Spencer and Gillen’s 1902 cross-continental anthropological expedition.

Landmarks Some guides are still recognised by landmarks, such the Tarra River is


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Gippsland, named after the Polish explorer Strzelecki’s guide Charlie Tarra who led the expedition across the Australian Alps, where Mt Kosciusko was named in 1840, to Western Port and Melbourne. The Gippsland historian P.D. Gardner comments that it was the “hunting and bushcraft of Charlie Tarra that enabled them to reach Western Port alive.” 8 Yuranigh is recorded by a creek near Molong, a lagoon and a county in Queensland, while Charley Fisher, one of the guides for Leichhardt’s expedition, is commemorated by Charley’s Creek near Chinchilla, Queensland and north of the Condamine River.

Historiography The histories on which generations of Australians were raised on largely ignored the role of aboriginal guides and ambassadors. Henry Reynolds attributes this blindness to the 8

P. D. Gardner, Our Founding Murdering Father (Ensay, Australia, 1990), 16.

celebration of the explorers as necessary heroes for the creation of national image. The explorers were seized on by writers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to provide colour and romance to what was thought to be a ‘rather tame and uneventful story’ singularly ‘devoid of stirring incident’ … Before the First World War the explorers provided the heroism supplied in other nations by military prowess and success in battle. 9 The explorers “were paraded through the minds of several generations of Australian children to promote an “honest and manly” pride in the nation.” 10 And so the role of the aboriginal explorers was erased. There were the mid-Victorian heroic tales of Wylie, guide to Edward Eyre’s crossing of the Great Australian Bight, and Jacky Jacky (also referred to as Jackey Jackey in ADB), the guide to 9

Reynolds, 2000, op.cit., 18. Ibid., 19.

10

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the stricken Edmund Kennedy in Cape York who carried on after the white explorer was speared and died. These were examples of the ‘faithful native’ rather than partners in the exploration of this country. Examples of the white explorer-centric imperialist histories can be found in Sir Ernest Scott’s A Short History of Australia 11 and Alan Shaw’s The Story of Australia 12 in which the white male explorers ‘discovered’ the country. These books were the staples of history education in Australia at secondary school and undergraduate education for a generation. In Scott’s sole chapter on exploration, which starts with Matthew Flinders at the beginning of the 19th century and ends with the Forrest’s expeditions in the 1870s, not one indigenous guide is mentioned by name. Even the celebrated Wylie is referred as ‘one

black’ who stayed with Eyre for the bleak two-month journey across southern Australia. The expeditions of Leichhardt and Kennedy in the late 1840s have no reference to the guides and Kennedy’s death in 1848 does not mention Jacky Jacky’s heroic support for him.

Cultural impact Not surprisingly with the sudden cultural impact of the white British culture, some guides weren’t always faithful and loyal. The mass arrival of European settlers after the initial fifty years of the colony “came in such overwhelming numbers that they dominated the Indigenous people.” 13 This massive cultural change was hard for some to comprehend, compared with their more open and sharing society. In Gippsland, Jemmy Gibber, chief of the Maneroo tribe, acted as guide to Angus McMillan but left him after six days because he was

11

Ernest Scott, A Short History of Australia (Oxford, 1947). 12 Alan (A. E. L.) Shaw, The Story of Australia (London, 1955).

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13

Philip Clarke, Where Ancestors Walked – Australia as an Aboriginal Landscape (Crows Nest, Australia, 2003), 205.


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frightened of “Warrigals, or wild blacks” in an area beyond the Maneroo region. 14 In Leichhardt’s expedition of 1844, Charley Fisher and Harry Brown performed well as guides but had failings as diplomats, mainly because Charley liked “native gins” (indigenous women) too much which brought the expedition into conflict with tribes in the areas that they passed through. One of Charley and Harry’s forays in Cape York led to an attack by the Kokopera people in which one explorer was killed and two were wounded by spears. Leichhardt, who had been punched by Charley after reprimanding him in mid-expedition, also jailed the guide in Port Essington (near Darwin) for a night for stealing a sword and selling it to a carpenter. 15

14

P. D. Gardner, 1990, op. cit., 15. E. M. Webster, An Explorer at Rest, Ludwig Leichhardt at Port Essington and the homeward journey (Melbourne, 1986), 37.

Although Wylie travelled across the Great Australian Bight with Eyre in their terrible journey, there were other black guides who were less loyal to the explorer and with good reason. Eyre effectively kidnapped two eightyear-old boys named Cootachah and Joshuing from the Murray River area while driving stock to the new colony of Port Phillip. He took them on to Hobart as “crowd pleasing trophies” 16 and they stayed with him for his next journey from NSW to South Australia. As they neared the Murray River, the boys’ families met Eyre but he would not return them. Joshuing deserted soon after but Cootachah stayed and was joined by another indigenous boy, Neramberein, whom Eyre had recruited. Their revenge on Eyre for this enslavement came three years later as the explorer prepared to go westward into the desert wilderness across the Bight. Cootachah and Neramberein shot Eyre’s companion Baxter and ran off, as they feared for

15

16

Reynolds, 2000, op. cit., 161.

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their lives. 17 The treatment of these boys and young men went unquestioned and was only recently exposed by Reynolds. 18

Tommy Windich In Western Australia, Tommy Windich was a guide to the Forrest brothers’ exploration and accompanied them on four expeditions from 1869 to 1874. The Forrests were expert surveyors using celestial navigation to plot their paths and so the aboriginal guides’ role was to search for water and horse feed. Windich was adept at finding native wells and waterholes, sometimes saving the expedition. John Forrest commented that without a waterhole found by him, “our position would be critical.” 19 Windich gained small rewards in his lifetime and the gratitude of the Forrests. When he died of pneumonia in 1876 at the age of 36, they erected a tombstone over his grave inscribed with “He was an

aboriginal native of Western Australia, of great intelligence and fidelity, who accompanied them on exploring expeditions into the interior of Australia, two of which were from Perth to Adelaide. Be Ye Also Ready.” 20

Rewards and recognition By his marble headstone and its inscription by Mitchell, Yuranigh may be the most recognised of the aboriginal guides, although in his lifetime he was only given a small payment at the end of the expedition before returning to farm work. Wylie was rewarded with a pension and remained in Albany amongst his people. Others went back to their tribal areas but many faded away. Jacky Jacky, although recognised by Governor Fitzroy with a commemorative breast plate, returned to the Muswellbrook area in the Hunter 20

17

Parker, 2007, op. cit., 78-9. 18 Reynolds, 2000, op. cit., 161-2. 19 Reynolds, 2000, op. cit., 47-8.

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Tommy Windich, 1840-1876, Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/windichtommy-4871.


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Valley area of NSW. It is recorded that he fell into a fire while drunk and died of his burns. The renowned Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey bemoaned their lack of recognition: “When these guides died – mostly at an early age – a few were honoured with an obituary notice in a colonial newspaper and even an iron railing around their grave.” 21 The role of the ‘aboriginal ambassadors’ is a story that deserves to be better known and their contribution recognised nationally and in the histories of indigenous people around the world.

Landscape (Crows Nest, Australia, 2003).

References

Alan (A. E. L.) Shaw, The Story of Australia (London, 1955).

Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au. Geoffrey Blainey, A Land Half Won (Melbourne: 1983).

P. D. Gardner, Our Founding Murdering Father (Ensay, Australia, 1990). Derek Parker, Outback – The Discovery of Australia’s Interior (Stroud, 2007). Henry Reynolds, Black Pioneers (Ringwood, Australia, 2000). Ernest Scott, A Short History of Australia (Oxford, 1947).

E. M. Webster, An Explorer at Rest, Ludwig Leichhardt at Port Essington and the homeward journey (Melbourne, Australia, 1986).

Philip Clarke, Where the Ancestors Walked – Australia as an Aboriginal 21

Geoffrey Blainey, A Land Half Won (Melbourne, 1983).

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Attitudes of religious communities towards LGBT+ community in Estonia: Same-Sex Marriage and Religion. Igor Ahmedov Year 3- Theology, Religion and Ethics In this article I am investigating the attitudes of Estonian religious communities, represented by the Estonian Council of Churches 1 and the Estonian Jewish Centre, 2 towards the LGBT+ 3 community. I will focus on debates surrounding the Registered

1

A number of Christian denominations have published individual statements but I would use the statement by Estonian Council of Churches as it represents a wide range of churches. For more information see http://ekn.ee/english.php. 2 Estonian Jewish Centre represents the only Jewish religious organisation in Estonia with an orthodox Synagogue in Tallinn. For more information see http://www.ejc.ee/?lang=en. 3 By LGBT+ community I understand people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, pansexual, asexual and others who do not feel represented as heterosexuals.

Partnership Act 4 passed by the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament) that allowed the registering of same-sex partnerships in Estonia. I will be arguing that in this debate, politicians went against the will of the people and the religious communities as a survey conducted by Estonian Public Broad Broadcasting showed that over half of the Estonian population does not support the Act. 5 Further, I will argue, that debate surrounding same-sex relationship showed the loss of a privileged place by Christianity in political discourse. Historically Estonia was never a country with an open heart towards the LGBT+ community. In a study surveying the attitudes of thirty five mostly European democracies towards homosexuality, Estonia was ranked

4

Riigikogu, Registered Partnership Act (English Translation), (Tallinn: Riigi Teataja, 2014). 5 Urmet Kook, ‘Üle poole elanikest ei toeta kooseluseadust’, Eesti Rahvusringhääling 5.08.2014.

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twenty fourth. 6 Ilke Aspers writes that the Estonian Equal Treatment Law that should, in theory, protect all people from all kinds of unfair treatment, specifically states that the sexual discrimination part is only extended as far as protection against discrimination in employment. 7 Further Aspers argues that the addition of protection for those discriminated against based on sexual orientation was only added in 2004 due to external pressure from the European Union as one of the conditions for membership. 8 Paragraph twelve of the Estonian Constitution that bans discrimination does not list sexual orientation as one of the basis for

6

Robert Andersen and Tina Fetner, ‘Economic Inequality and Tolerance: Attitudes toward Homosexuality in 35 Democracies’, American Journal of Political Science 52.4 (2008), 942958 (949). 7 Ilke Jaspers, Human rights analysis of homosexuality Focus study: Estonia (Tartu: University of Tartu, 2009), 41. 8 Ilke Jaspers, Human rights analysis of homosexuality, 41.

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possible discrimination. 9 The Registered Partnership Act therefore shows that either Estonian society has grown to be more tolerant of the LGBT+ community in the ten years between joining the European Union and passing the Act in Riigikogu, or Riigikogu was once again under external pressure from the European Community. Relationship between the church and state in Estonia also requires a special mention. The Estonian Constitution states that ‘There is no state church. Everyone is free to practise his or her religion, alone or in community with others, in public or in private, unless this is detrimental to public order, public health or public morality.’ 10 This is important in two ways; first it states that no Christian denomination has a 9

Referendum, The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, §12. 10 Referendum, The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia (Tallinn: Riigi Teataja, 2015),§40, accessed April 15, 2016, https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/52105201500 1/consolide


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priority when it comes to dealings between the church and the state and secondly it makes secularisation statement that religion is being privatised and is moved in to the private sphere problematic 11 as everyone is free to practice their religion publically. The wording of the constitution is vital to understanding the position of Christianity in Estonian society, as the constitution does not say that there is no state religion, but rather says there is no state church. I argue that this is reflected in the state’s relationship with the Estonian Council of Churches, as they enjoy certain privileges that other religions and Christian communities outside of Estonian Council of Churches do not. Alar Kilp argues that in the present day, churches in Estonia are used as an instrument of political agendas as was indicated by the involvement of the Orthodox and Lutheran Churches

11

Jose Casanova, ‘Rethinking Secularization: A Global Comparative Perspective’, in The Hedgehog Review 8.1-2 (2006), 7-22 (7).

in the parliamentary election of 2011. 12 Kilp argues that desecularisation is taking place in Estonian society, as Estonian national identity is being often defined through the religious means. The Union of Gay Christians and the Centre for Integration of Society’s statement to Riigikogu argues that the Registered Partnership Act is beneficial for Christian LGBT+ community, as it will allow them to show their love more openly to other people, to God and to the state 13. They also argue that the Act would contribute to national security as people who feel safe and happy in the state are more likely to contribute to the wellbeing of the state. They argue that there are already hundreds of 12

Alar Kilp, ‘Lutheran and Russian Orthodox Church Buildings as Symbols of Cultural Identity in the Estonian Parliamentary Election of 2011’ in Religion, State and Society 41.3 (2013), 312-329 (314-318). 13 Heino Nurk and Olga Gerassimenko, ‘MTÜ Geikristlaste Kogu/MTÜ Ühiskonna Integreerimise Keskus arvamus’, Riigikogu 5.5.2014, [internet].

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partnerships in Estonia that need the protection of the Act. There are children growing in those families, there are partnership members who need help and support in making medical choices (switching off lifesupport as an example). When it comes to religious arguments, the Union and the Centre argue that arguments proposed on a theological basis by some of the Estonian churches are not taken seriously by major churches in Europe such as Church in Sweden and Denmark where same-sex marriage ceremonies take place in churches. The statement concludes by arguing that using the Bible to argue against same-sex relationships is as bad as using it to support slavery. 14 The statement issued by the Estonian Council of Churches in regards to the Registered Partnership Act has seven 14

Heino Nurk and Olga Gerassimenko, ‘MTÜ Geikristlaste Kogu/MTÜ Ühiskonna Integreerimise Keskus arvamus’, Riigikogu 5.5.2014, [internet].

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points of argument. The first three are to do with the Registered Partnership Act as an attack on marriage and family, the fourth to do with the happiness of the majority of people, the fifth to do with national security, the sixth to do with protection of children and the seventh with the argument that same-sex relations as well as partnerships between unmarried opposite sex partners could be regulated by other existing legislations. 15 The Estonian Jewish Centre, in their statement, agreed with the Estonian Council of Churches’ statement and added that the proposed law is against the teachings of the Torah on family and marriage. 16 I will now examine those arguments not based on whether they are theologically accurate, but rather in the light of the statement issued by the 15

Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu, Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu, ‘Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu (EKN) arvamus kooseluseaduse eelnõu kohta (650 SE I), [internet]. 16 Rabi Shmuel Kot and Boris Oks, ‘Eesti Juudiusu Koguduse arvamus kooseluseaduse eelnõu 650 SE I kohta’, [internet].


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Union of Gay Christians and the Centre for Integration of Society, and the Registered Partnership Act. From a certain perspective the Estonian Council of Churches’ criticism in regards to the Registered Partnership Act on marriage is a legitimate one. Chapter 2 division 1 paragraph 7 part 1 of the Registered Partnership Act states that the purposes of registered partnership are

The language adopted is gender neutral and nowhere in the Act does it state that the persons entering the

registered partnership need to be of the opposite sex, thus opening registered partnership to couples of the same and different sexes. Registered partners are to support and maintain, organise cohabitation and consider the well-being of each other. This is similar to what might be expected from a couple who have entered a marital union. The broader ideology of a registered partnership and a marriage are therefore similar and the differences can only be found in specific details, for example there is a restriction on adoption for the partners, people in a registered partnership cannot adopt a child unless they are related by parental link. 18 At the same time, there are different-sex families who take care of each other and raise children, yet are not joined in ‘holy matrimony’. The Registered Partnership Act is also designed to protect their interests, but the language that the statement from the Estonian Council of Churches

17

18

‘To support and maintain each other. Registered partners have equal rights and duties with respect to each other. They organise together their cohabitation considering the wellbeing of each other and they shall each accept responsibilities relating to cohabitation with regard to the other.’17

Riigikogu, Registered Partnership Act, 2014, [internet].

See paragraph 15, Riigikogu, Registered Partnership Act, [internet].

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adopts seems to only be concerned with the same-sex partners as endangering marriage. 19 One would expect a conservative church to be unhappy with the idea of a man and a woman being in a sexual relationship before marriage, yet it is not so. Estonian Lutheran priest was defrocked because he started the Union of Gay Christians in Estonia, the Church found it to be against their theological and moral teachings while claiming that sexual minorities are equal in the eyes of the Church. 20 Conundrum! Interestingly, both statements made by the Estonian Council of Churches and the Union of Gay Christians/Centre for the Integration of Society use national security in their argument. The Estonian Internal Security Service annual report for 2015 states that the

threat arising from Russian aggression is much more severe than the threat arising from the migrant crisis. 21 The Estonian Council of Churches state that they represent a third of the Estonian population and many nonChristians would agree with them on the issue of the Registered Partnership Act as for example the Jewish population of Estonia did. They argue that a society that is torn apart by such struggles does not trust their leaders, as they do not represent the views of the people who have elected them. The Estonian Council of Churches argues that an internal conflict over the registered Partnership Act might be beneficial to the certain people who are seeking to threaten Estonia (implying the Russian Federation). 22 The Union of Gay Christians and the Centre for the 21

19

Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu, Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu, ‘Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu (EKN) arvamus kooseluseaduse eelnõu kohta (650 SE I), [internet]. 20 Unknown, ‘Heino Nurk tagandati vaimuliku ametist’, in Eesti Kirik 12.10.2010.

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Harrys Puusepp, ed., Estonian Internal Security Service Annual Review 2015 (Tallinn: Kaitseministeerium, 2016). 22 Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu, Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu, ‘Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu (EKN) arvamus kooseluseaduse eelnõu kohta (650 SE I), [internet].


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Integration of Society on the other hand argue that national security would be improved if the Act would be passed as the discrimination of samesex partners would go down due to the Registered Partnership Act as society will come to accept it. This would enable same-sex partners, their relatives and friends, who otherwise would have had to spend their time being uncertain of their future and fighting discrimination, to diverge freed up time and self-happiness to defend the state. 23 In other words, if a threat will arise LGBT+ community and their friends and relatives will be happy to protect a state that was happy to protect them. The Registered Partnership Act was enforced in the Republic of Estonia on the 1st of January 2016. Time and further research will show whether the introduction of the Act has in fact resulted in decreased discrimination and increased happiness of the 23

Heino Nurk and Olga Gerassimenko, ‘MTÜ Geikristlaste Kogu/MTÜ Ühiskonna Integreerimise Keskus arvamus’, [internet].

LGBT+ community of Estonia. I have raised concerns about whether the Act was enforced because of the pressure from the European Union, or whether it was a legitimate will of the people. Yet I believe the act to be a needed step in the right direction for the Estonian community. I have demonstrated that the attitude of Estonian society and Estonian religions represent a strongly negative attitude towards the Registered Partnership Act, however I have shown that on the most part such feelings are guided not by legitimate moral arguments against same-sex relationships, but rather by the fear of the other and the unknown (homophobia – where LGBT+ community are unknown and the other). The arguments given by the religious communities in Estonia were successfully countered by the Union of Gay Christians, showing the split in the Christian community of Estonia, but also a possible loss of a privileged place by the Estonian Council of 114132


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Churches. As despite the close links between Christianity and the public sphere in Estonian society, Christianity, as represented by the Estonian Council of Churches, did not succeed in influencing Estonian Parliament this time.

Bibliography Andersen, Robert and Fetner, Tina, ‘Economic Inequality and Tolerance: Attitudes toward Homosexuality in 35 Democracies’, American Journal of Political Science 52.4 (2008), 942-958. Casanova, Jose, ‘Rethinking Secularization: A Global Comparative Perspective’, in The Hedgehog Review 8.1-2 (2006), 7-22. Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu, ‘Eesti Kirikute Nõukogu (EKN) arvamus kooseluseaduse eelnõu kohta (650 SE I), Riigikogu 6.5.2014, accessed March 26, 2016, http://www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnou d/eelnou/arvamused/ea84e71c-291a133115

4c91-88b0bd64af650d21/Kooseluseadus/. Jaspers, Ilke, Human rights analysis of homosexuality Focus study: Estonia (Tartu: University of Tartu, 2009), accessed March 18, 2016, http://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/5015 6?locale-attribute=en. Kilp, Alar, ‘Lutheran and Russian Orthodox Church Buildings as Symbols of Cultural Identity in the Estonian Parliamentary Election of 2011’ in Religion, State and Society 41.3 (2013), 312-329. Kook, Urmet, ‘Üle poole elanikest ei toeta kooseluseadust’, Eesti Rahvusringhääling 5.08.2014, accessed March 26, 2016, https://uudised.err.ee/v/eesti/0d7410b e-5294-4578-9741-3fc30581eadb. Nurk, Heino and Gerassimenko, Olga, ‘MTÜ Geikristlaste Kogu/MTÜ Ühiskonna Integreerimise Keskus arvamus’, Riigikogu 5.5.2014,


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accessed March 30, 2016, http://www.riigikogu.ee/tegevus/eelnou d/eelnou/arvamused/ea84e71c-291a4c91-88b0bd64af650d21/Kooseluseadus/. Puusepp, Harrys, ed., Estonian Internal Security Service Annual Review 2015 (Tallinn: Kaitseministeerium, 2016), accessed April 23, 2016, https://kapo.ee/en/content/annualreviews.html. Rabi Kot, Shmuel and Oks, Boris, ‘Eesti Juudiusu Koguduse arvamus kooseluseaduse eelnõu 650 SE I kohta’, Riigikogu 23.7.2014, accessed March 26, 2016, http://www.riigikogu.ee/tegevu s/eelnoud/eelnou/arvamused/ea84e71 c-291a-4c91-88b0bd64af650d21/Kooseluseadus/.

https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/52711 2014001/consolide. Referendum, The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia (Tallinn: Riigi Teataja, 2015), accessed April 15, 2016, https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/52105 2015001/consolide. Unknown, ‘Heino Nurk tagandati vaimuliku ametist’, in Eesti Kirik 12.10.2010, accessed April 23, 2016, http://www.eestikirik.ee/heino-nurktagandati-vaimuliku-ametist/.

Riigikogu, Registered Partnership Act (English Translation), (Tallinn: Riigi Teataja, 2014), accessed March 26, 2016, 116134





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A figurational sociological investigation of the current debate to ban tackling in school rugby and implications for societal attitudes toward ‘civilised’ violence. Maria Moxey MA Sport and Society Part of the enduring strength of rugby union’s national heritage in England is based around its traditional roots in many English schools (Dunning, 1999). A critical investigation into violence and injury in rugby union is timely considering the recent discussions highlighting the physical dangers for schoolchildren engaging in a ‘full contact’ sport and a lobbying for the banning of tackling in schools’ rugby (Sellgren, 2016 [online]). A figurational sociological framework will be utilised here to explore links between sport, violence and injury and how rugby union’s historical development has led to risk of injury becoming a central part of playing the game. Figurational sociology recognises that sport and society are

interdependently linked but also in constant ‘processual’ flux (Murphy, Sheard & Waddington, 2000). Such ways of thinking thus provide an opportunity to explore this issue from within both a sporting and a wider dynamic societal context. Violence in sport is expected, rewarded and central to competition, particularly in contact sports (Bryson, 1987; Heikkala, 1993; Young, 2000). Kerr (2005) notes that violence in sport (on the field of play) can be both instrumental (i.e. seen as acceptable and necessary for the sport, within the rules and thus sanctioned) and affective (i.e. aggressive behaviour that is often unplanned and angerdriven, which is unsanctioned and results in punishment). A tension exists between needing to keep sport safe, and maintaining the pleasure gained from high-risk competition (van Bottenburg & Heilbron, 2006). Of course, both of these forms of violence can lead to player injury. This essay will focus mainly on the risk of spinal 118138


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cord, neck and concussion injuries due to their severity, frequency and potentially catastrophic nature (Scher, 1991; McIntosh & McCrory, 2005). The figurational, or process sociology, approach to the study of sport and society has extensively examined sporting violence and injury (Donnelly, 2008). Indeed, issues related to violence (and its control) are at the very core of a figurational sociological approach to understanding sport and wider society over time (Hutchins, 1998). Society is seen to be made up of a network of multiple overlapping and interdependent figurations of social groups with each figuration being characterised by shared norms and values (Meier, 2013). Figurations are used to conceptualise society as a complex process where individuals are both enabled and constrained by multiple and dynamic networks of shifting power relations (van Krieken, 1998). Elias’s (1982) research into figurations identified ‘civilising processes’, figurational dynamics that 139119

over a long period of time (i.e. since the Middle Ages) have resulted in more developed societies becoming safer by outlawing violent acts deemed to be not in keeping with that time. This is achieved through a series of interdependent social movements that involve, but are not limited to: power becoming centralised within the state, disputes becoming settled by debate rather than fighting (e.g. via parliamentarisation processes), greater levels of morality, and citizens developing more sensitivity to what is socially acceptable – i.e. a decrease in thresholds of shame and repugnance to overt violence (van Krieken, 1998). These long-term social movements can be seen as a series of complex shifting power ratios between social groups, what Elias and Scotson (1994) referred to as ‘established-outsider relations’. This concept highlights how society can progress as a result of power balances that can shift as outsider groups challenge the dominant established groups and the


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established simultaneously respond to new threats to their status. Such appreciation of long-term social processes can also be explicitly linked to the development of sport (Maguire, 1994). The impact of broader societal civilising processes on sport is referred to as ‘sportisation’ (Donnelly, 2008). More specifically, sportisation encompasses how sports have become more civilised through the adoption of standardised rules to manage what is deemed acceptable and reduce violent behaviour in line with social norms of the time whilst maintaining competition and excitement (van Bottenburg & Heilbron, 2006). This codification of sport is not always simple. As in society more broadly there may be instances when ‘de-civilising’ moments come to the fore in a sport which may lead to a re-adjustment of that sport’s rules and thus open a new phase of sportisation processes.

Elias and Dunning (1993) viewed sport as ‘a quest for excitement’. As society became safer, sport provided a cultural space for individuals to ‘deroutinise’ their lives and reprise some elements of the gladiatorial essence of sport from previous eras. Sport thus provides a mimetic potential where civilised citizens can seek temporary catharsis and escape from their routine lives (Stokvis, 1992). Such mimesis helps to explain why some violent behaviour can still be accepted, and even encouraged, in sport but would not be tolerated in other aspects of society (Goodger & Goodger, 1989). Traditional team sports such as rugby union represent a form of battle (Dunning, 1986) but the levels of violence that are acceptable are constantly being renegotiated as part of the sportisation process. The longevity and popularity of such invasion sports also provides evidence of the complexities of the civilising process and how seemingly decivilising (or uncivilised) behaviour can play a role in the longer-term 120140


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development of a more civilised society (Elias, 1982; Dunning, 1986; Dunning, 1993). Rugby in England has long been aligned with militaristic and patriotic ideology (Collins, 2002) and the construction of masculinity (Messner, 1992). In comparison to its violent unstructured folk game antecedents, rugby can be seen as a more modern and rationalised sporting activity. The modern game became more formalised in Rugby school in 1845, where rules were first established to protect players and reduce violent tackling practices such as ‘hacking’ (Dunning, 1999). This was followed by further codification in various other English public schools during the nineteenth century (Dunning, 1999). The Victorian English public school traditions of muscular Christianity and the cult of masculinity underpinned the new rules of the game and the formation of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in 1871 (Dunning, 1993). The formation of a national governing body 141121

to regulate rugby provides a civilising moment whereby rules became standardised nation-wide to control excessive violence deemed not in keeping with the sensitivities of the period (Dunning, 1993). However, the recently established authority of the RFU was challenged by a growing movement to professionalise the sport. Arguments about the threat of professionalising the game by formally paying players resulted in the eventual bifurcation of the game in 1895 into the separate and distinctive ‘codes’ of rugby league (underpinned by the northern clubs wanting professionalization) and rugby union (underpinned by the southern clubs wishing to retain amateurism) (Dunning & Sheard, 2003). This clear bifurcation existed for a hundred years before globalisation and commercialisation processes ultimately led to the official deamateurisation of rugby union by 1995 (Elias & Dunning, 1986; Polley, 2002). Rugby has continued to demonstrate a


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broad civilising tendency over time (Dunning, 1986). Arguably, in a match today, more pleasure is gained from the skill of handling the ball and teamwork rather than through acts of affective violence (Dunning, 1986). That said, brutal physical contact and injury are still ingrained within the culture of rugby union (Collins, 2002). This persistence of seemingly uncivilised, and yet acceptable, violent conduct in rugby can be explained figurationally by considering the need to keep the sport as ‘a quest for excitement’ (Elias & Dunning, 1986). Rugby maintains a set of formal and informal ‘mimetic’ characteristics that are designed to re-create a delicate balance between pleasure and pain (van Bottenburg & Heilbron, 2006). The RFU thus regulates English rugby by both monitoring player safety but also maintaining acceptable levels of instrumental violence in order to allow for the continued pursuit of mimetic excitement in a tolerable manner (Dunning, 1986; van Bottenburg & Heilbron, 2006).

Injuries have doubled since rugby union became professional in the mid1990s (Telegraph [online], 12th September 2011). This suggests that a more serious, and arguably increasingly competitive, game has led to an increase in the levels of violence within the game. The dynamic balance between de-civilising moments and civilising regulation can be seen in recent attempts to safeguard the scrum in rugby union whilst keeping it as a physical and competitive cornerstone of the game. Despite such directives, on average, one player at every Six Nations match now suffers a brain injury (BBC News, 21st September 2015 [online]). Half of the injuries suffered in rugby come from tackles (Pain, Tsui & Cove, 2008), a major cause in spinal injuries (Quarrie, Cantu, & Chalmers, 2002). Matt Hampson became quadriplegic when a scrum collapsed, breaking his neck during preparation for an Under-21 Six Nations match (Mail, 21st April 2013 [online]). A similar injury was suffered by Daniel James, who represented 122142


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England at under-16 level, during a training session in 2007. Unable to come to terms as a tetraplegic his story came to light after his assisted suicide a year later (Mail, 20th April 2013 [online]; Guardian 18th October 2008 [online]; Telegraph, 21st October 2008 [online]).

associated ‘Headcase’ guide to concussion, protocols have been developed to treat head injuries more rigorously, report injuries quickly and ensure players receive a full medical assessment before returning to play (RFU Regulation 9 - Player Safety, 2016 [online]).

In the second decade of the 21st century, the RFU has entered a phase of development that mirrors the previous initial codification processes of rugby’s initial sportisation. In this era, the RFU has explicitly sought to increase its regulation of violence to reduce player injury and increase safety in line with what is acceptable to/in society (Elias, 1986). New rules for scrummage engagement that reduce the initial violent impact of the two forward packs ‘hitting’ the scrum by 25% were designed to lower the risks of a collapse (Trewartha & Stokes, 2015 [online]; World Rugby, 2016). Effective from 2015 in England, RFU Regulation 9 is dedicated to player safety and, through the

Sportspeople accept risk and are prepared to sacrifice their bodies when they are driven by a strong motivation to win. Winning at all costs and triumphing through hard work and sacrifice are cornerstones of the sport ethic (Berg, Migliaccio, & AnziniVaresio, 2014). As involvement in sport becomes more serious, elite sportspeople become at more risk of injury as a product of chasing more and more excitement and success (Goodger & Goodger, 1989). Unlike elite adult rugby players, schoolchildren in physical education lessons may not yet have the maturity to make informed decisions concerning their health and safety in contact sports. Yet, tackling in rugby

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union in schools remains a compulsory part of the curriculum ‘experience’. In this current phase of sportisation, society is looking to the RFU to safeguard children from (serious) injury and initiate appropriate action and change. New RFU regulations have been explicitly directed towards children’s safety, for example by ensuring children play within their age range (RFU Regulation 9 - Player Safety, 2016 [online]). While this demonstrates attempts by the RFU to manage risks there remains a vocal ‘outsider’ lobby group seeking more radical change. At the time of writing there is a growing debate, presented as significant news items, pressurising the RFU to remove tackling from schools (Sellgren, 2016 [online]). Those lobbying for change argue that tackling accounts for 63% of injuries in youth matches (Archbold, Rankin, Webb, Nicholas, Eames, Wilson, Henderson, Heyey & Bleakley, 2015) with 90% of injuries resulting in seven school absences (Pollock, 2016

[online]). Research indicates that out of 825 children, 426 were injured playing rugby union. 81 of these received diagnosed concussions and many of these instances were not immediately detected by referees or teachers (Anderson, 2016 [online]). Yet, children as young as seven are still required to tackle when they play the game (Anderson, 2016 [online]). Elias & Scotson’s (1994) concept of ‘established-outsider relations’ is a useful lens through which to study this ‘outsider’ challenge to the RFU. In this instance this debate has been stimulated by two opposing yet interdependent social groups jockeying for status and control over the norms, values and future development of the sport. A petition with seventy signatures of a range of academics and medics has been developed to formalise this perceived need for immediate change and calls for teachers and officials to put better safety management procedures in place to reduce injury in rugby 124144


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(Petitions: UK Government and Parliament, 2016 [online]). The established members of the rugby figuration responded to this challenge to reform ‘their’ game by effectively closing ranks and reinforcing the view that tackling should remain integral to the game. One player who had been paralysed in a school match attacked the call to ban the collision element of the game arguing that it builds important character traits (Telegraph [online], 3rd March 2016 [online]). Nevertheless, the figurations (and membership) of both established and outsider groups are fluid and everchanging (Dunning, 1993). Some members of the established group have become advocates for change. For example, Adam White, an executive committee member for the England Rugby Football Schools Union and a licensed Rugby Educator is firmly aligned with the lobby group encouraging the removal of tackling in schools (White, 2016 [online]). Such calls for reform present a 145125

challenge to the established group but also provide the potential for a civilising moment, or new phase of sportisation, for rugby union where the risk of injury becomes a driving force in the development of new rules and regulations (Hendricks & Lambert, 2010). Some of the potential solutions put forward to reduce injury are worthy of note here. More protective equipment could be used but this would not significantly reduce the frequency (or severity) of physical impact (Pain, Tsui & Cove, 2008). Weight categories in youth rugby (as used in boxing) could potentially both reduce the risk of injury and remove ‘unfair’ match-ups between players (Jacobs & Ellis, 2010). This might make the contests on the pitch more even and thus more exciting (Dunning, 1986; Goodger & Goodger, 1989). Another potential development could see age restrictions implemented, delaying tackling until secondary school. However, research suggests that players up to the age of 19 still have 28% chance of being injured


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playing the game (Pollock, 2016 [online]). Elitist models of sport imposed on children are often justified by talent identification processes (Roberts & Treasure, 1992; Kerr, 2003). Rugby union inherently arouses aggression in a ritualised setting (Dunning, 1986). Arguably, children learn that violence in the pursuit of winning is acceptable (Kerr, 2003). Conversely, allowing children the release of tension and arousal of aggression in a legitimised environment, teaches them to control expressions of physical violence (Dunning, 1986). The recent calls for more attention to be paid to the risk of injury in youth rugby forces us to question whether the (often shortterm) development of an elite corps of ‘sportschildren’ outweighs the potential long-term health impact on the majority. From the RFU perspective, it seems that whilst their injury reduction strategies might be appropriate for club level, schools are left responsible for providing safer environments when

rugby is played in school (Kerr, 2003; Sellgren, 2016 [online]). The health benefits associated with the game could still be gained in safer (and perceived as less challenging) alternatives such as tag rugby (Telegraph [online], 3rd March 2016 [online]). It may be that tag rugby is the way forward for ‘compulsory’ physical education lessons, confining ‘traditional’ contact elements, such as scrummages and tackles, to extracurricular school clubs. However, it is not always simple to balance the complexities of the risk of injury and a ‘quest for excitement’ within the rules and regulations of a sport (Dunning, 1986). Perhaps it is not wholly surprising then that in the same period when discussions around the removal of contact elements in rugby union are developing, there are also discussions in rugby league to re-introduce contested scrummages to add to the excitement of the game (Wilson, 2014 [online]; Bourke, 2006).

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To summarize, it is important to consider the historical development of modern sports to contextualize the issues surrounding them today. Modern sports emerged reflecting the patriarchal society in which they developed and many of the traditions of rugby union remain as means for the expression of masculinity and physical power (Dunning, 1999). Despite a lowering of societal thresholds of repugnance regarding affective violence, injury as a consequence of instrumental violence is deemed acceptable in rugby even though the consequences of injuries caused by such violence (e.g. concussion) can be both undetected and catastrophic (Trewartha, Preatoni, England & Stokes, 2015). Although the RFU has demonstrated some standardisation of rules to increased safety (Dunning, 1999), tensions still exist due to the centrality of acceptable violence and the risk of injury in rugby union. These tensions have been highlighted by considering the place of schoolchildren in the 147127

rugby figuration. Schools rugby in England today seems caught between its long-standing tradition of full contact and the new impetus to better protect children (Atkinson & Young, 2008; van Bottenburg & Heilbron, 2006). The long-term development of rugby union, and its inter-relationship with violence, can be characterised as a series of complex civilising and decivilising moments reproduced over generations (van Krieken, 1998). Although the game today is generally more policed and less violent, it is evident that the risk of injury in this contact sport remains a topical issue. Rugby union in its current state also demonstrates a case study of how established norms and values are being threatened by relative outsider lobby groups (being led by a group of medics and academics). The recent debates surrounding the need (or not) to safeguard players more demonstrates the multi-faceted complexities of the relationship


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between violence in sport and society (Hutchins, 1998). The ‘scrum’ for power in rugby union today, both within and between established and outsider groups, remains as ever, in a state of flux.

References Anderson, E. (2016, March 2). The great rugby union debate: should tackling be banned at school level? Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201 6/mar/02/rugby-union-debate-tacklingbanned-schools [4th March 2016]. Archbold, H.A.P., Rankin, A.T., Webb, M., Nicholas, R., Eames, N.W.A., Wilson, R. K., Henderson, L.A., Heyey, G.J. & Bleakley, C.M. (2015). RISUS study: Rugby Injury Surveillance in Ulster Schools. British Journal of Sports Medicine, doi:10.1136/bjsports2015-095491.

Atkinson, M. & Young, K. (2008). Deviance and Social Control in Sport. Champaign, IL.: Human Kinetics. BBC News. (2015, September 21). Rugby's top medic calls for rule change to make game safer. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ukscotland-34249189 [04th March 2016]. Berg, E.C., Migliaccio, T.A. & AnziniVaresio, R. (2014). Female football players, the sport ethic and the masculinity-sport nexus. Sport in Society, 17 (2), 176-189. Booth, R. (2008, October 18). 'He wasn't prepared for a second-class life': why injured rugby star went to Switzerland to die. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/o ct/18/11 [18th March 2016]. Bourke, J.B. (2006). Rugby union should ban contested scrums. British Medical Journal, 332 (7552), 1281.

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Cleary, M. (2008, October 21). Dan James' death throws spotlight on new RFU policy. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugby union/3230444/Dan-James-deaththrows-spotlight-on-new-RFU-policyRugby-Union.html [18th March 2016]. Coakley, J. & Pike, E. (2009). Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies. London: McGraw-Hill. Collins, T. (2002). English rugby union and the First World War. The Historical Journal, 45(04), 797-817. Donnelly, P. (2008). Sport and Social Theory. In B. Houlihan (Ed.) Sport and Society: A Student Introduction (Second Edition). London: Sage Publications. Dunning, E. (1986). Social Bonding and Violence in Sport. In N. Elias & E. Dunning (Eds.) Quest for Excitement: Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process. Oxford: Blackwell. 149129

Dunning, E. (1993). Sport in the Civilising Process: Aspects of the Development of Modern Sport. In E.G. Dunning, J.A. Maguire & R.E. Pearton (Eds.) The Sports Process: A Comparative and Developmental Approach. Champaign, IL.: Human Kinetics Publishers. Dunning, E. (1999). Sport Matters: Sociological Studies of Sport, Violence and Civilisation. London: Routledge. Dunning, E. & Sheard, K. (2000). Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players (Second Edition). Oxford: Martin Robertson. Dunning, E. & Sheard, K. (2003). The Bifurcation of Rugby Union and Rugby League: A Case Study of Organizational Conflict and Change. In E. Dunning & D. Malcolm (Eds.) Sport: Critical Concepts in Sociology. London: Routledge.


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Elias, N. (1982). The Civilizing Process: State-Formation and Civilization. Oxford: Blackwell. Elias, N. (1986). Elias on Figurations. In N. Elias & E. Dunning, (Eds.) Quest for Excitement: Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process. Oxford: Blackwell. Elias, N. & Dunning, E. (1986). Quest for Excitement: Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process. Oxford: Blackwell. Elias, N. & Scotson, J. (1994). The Established and The Outsiders. A Sociological Enquiry into Community Problems. London: Frank Cass. Goodger, J.M. & Goodger, B.C. (1989). Excitement and representation: toward a sociological explanation of the significance of sport in modern society. Quest, 41 (3), 257272.

Hendricks, S. & Lambert, M. (2010). Tackling in rugby: Coaching strategies for effective technique and injury prevention. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 5 (1), 117-136. Houston, L. (2016, March 03). Don't ban rugby tackling, begs student paralysed in school game. Retrieved from: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/new s/northern-ireland/dont-ban-rugbytackling-begs-student-paralysed-inschool-game-34506784.html [23rd March 2016]. Hutchins, B. (1998). Analysing Sporting Violence. In D. Hemphill (Ed.) All Part of the Game: Violence & Australian Sport. Melbourne: Walla Walla Press. Hutchins, B. & Phillips, M. (1997). Selling permissible violence: the commodification of Australian rugby league 1970-1995. International 130150


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Review for the Sociology of Sport, 32 (2), 161-176. Jacobs, A. & Ellis, J. (2010). Boxing. In C.C.Madden, M.Putukian, C.C.Young & E.C.McCarty (Eds.) Netter’s Sports Medicine. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier. Kerr, J.H. (2004). Rethinking Aggression and Violence in Sport. Abingdon: Routledge. Kervi, A. (2011, September 12). Tackling rugby safety issues head-on. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/healt h/children/8752872/Tackling-rugbysafety-issues-head-on.html [04th March 2016]. Maguire, J. (1994). Sport, identity politics, and globalization: diminishing contrasts and increasing varieties. Sociology of Sport Journal, 11 (4), 398-427.

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McIntosh, A.S., & McCrory, P. (2005). Preventing head and neck injury. British Journal Sports Medicine, 39 (6), 314–318. Meier, L. (2013). Everyone knew everyone: diversity, community memory and a new established– outsider figuration. Identities, 20 (4), 455-470. Messner, M. (1992). Power at Play, Sport and the Problem of Masculinity. Boston: Beacon Press. Murphy, P., Sheard, K. & Waddington, I. (2000). Figurational Sociology and its Application to Sport. In J. Coakley & E. Dunning (Eds.) Handbook of Sports Studies. London: Sage. Pain, M.G., Tsui, F. & Cove, S. (2008). In vivo determination of the effect of shoulder pads on tackling forces in rugby. Journal of Sports Sciences, 26 (8), 855-862.


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Peters, S. (2013, April 21). Hampson: It took me getting paralysed from the neck down before I started to use my brain. Retrieved from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby union/article-2312224/QuadriplegicMatt-Hampson-remains-positive.html [18th March 2016]. Petitions: UK Government and Parliament (2016, March 3). Retrieved from: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/ 123581 [24th April 2016]. Phillips, M.G. & Hutchins, B. (1998). From independence to a reconstituted hegemony: rugby league and television in Australia. Journal of Australian Studies, 22 (58), 134-147. Polley, M. (2002). Moving the Goalposts: A History of Sport and Society in Britain Since 1945. London: Routledge. Pollock, A. (2016, March 9). 9 March, 2016 Note on children’s rugby injury data. Retrieved from:

http://www.allysonpollock.com/?p=224 1#sthash.KymeJ41j.dpuf [24th March 2016]. Quarrie, K.L., Cantu, R.C. & Chalmers, D.L. (2002). Rugby union injuries to the cervical spine and spinal cord. Sports Medicine New Zealand, 32 (10), 633–653. Rugby Football Union (2016). RFU Regulation 9 – Player Safety. Retrieved from: http://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Doc ument/General/General/01/31/97/46/R FURegulation92016-2017_English.pdf [11th April 2016]. Roberts, G.C. & Treasure, D.C. (1992). Children in sport. Sport Science Review, 2 (1), 46–64. Scher, A.T. (1991). Spinal cord concussion in rugby players. American Journal of Sports Medicine, 19 (5), 485-488.

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Sellgren, K. (2016, March 2). Doctors urge schools to ban tackling in rugby. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education35696238 [11th April 2016]. Stokvis, R. (1992). Sports and Civilization: Is Violence the Central Problem? In E. Dunning and C. Rojek (Eds.) Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process: Critique and Counter-Critique. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Trewartha, G. & Stokes, K. (2015, September 16). How our new scrum technique will make the Rugby World Cup safer for players. Retrieved from: http://theconversation.com/how-ournew-scrum-technique-will-make-therugby-world-cup-safer-for-players47530 [18th March 2016]. Trewartha, G., Preatoni, E., England, M.E. & Stokes, K.A. (2015). Injury and biomechanical perspectives on the rugby scrum: a review of the literature. 153133

British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49 (7), 425-433. Van Bottenburg, M. & Heilbron, J. (2006). De-sportization of fighting contests: The origins and dynamics of no holds barred events and the theory of sportization. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 41 (3-4), 259-282. Van Krieken, R. (1998). Norbert Elias. London: Routledge. White, A. (2016, March 10). Adam White: Why tackling in school rugby should be banned. Retrieved from: http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/03/10/a dam-white-ban-tackling-in-schoolrugby-my-reasons-for-support/ [26th March 2016]. White, A.R. (2000). The" Civilizing" of Gloucester Rugby Football Club: A Historical Sociology of the Development and Management of an Elite English Rugby Union Football


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Club, 1873-1914. Thesis (PhD), University of Gloucestershire. Wilson, Z. (2014, July 15). Should contested scrums make a rugby league comeback? Retrieved from: http://www.loverugbyleague.com/blogp ost_726-should-contested-scrumsmake-a-rugby-league-comeback.html [26th April 2016]. World Rugby (2016) Laws of the Game: Rugby Union (Incorporating the Player Charter). Dublin: World Rugby. Young, K. (2000). Sport and Violence. In J. Coakley & E. Dunning (Eds.) The Handbook of Sports Studies. London: Sage Publications.

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Criminological Investigation: Miscarriages of Justice/Innocence Project Jade Bossuot Year 2- Law The purpose of the Criminal Justice System is to provide a due process for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent. When one is convicted of a serious crime, society often see imprisonment as plausible as it ensures guilty offenders receive their ‘just desert’, particularly when the crime receives high media and public discourse with the public expecting the police to find and the courts to convict the offender. Despite this, suspects can be wrongfully convicted, becoming victims of miscarriages of justice. If a suspect is on trial, they are innocent until proven guilty, while a person remains guilty until proven innocent. As will be seen, drawing upon wrongful conviction cases such as the Guildford 4, it seems there is more than one common factor present.

Introduction Wrongful convictions arise when innocent suspects are found guilty in a court trial, or when suspects feel compelled to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit to avoid unbearable circumstances or extremely long prison sentences. If a suspect is on trial, they are innocent until proven guilty, however, once convicted, they remain guilty until proven innocent (Newburn, Williamson and Wright 2011). The main purpose of the Criminal Justice System today is to deliver a due process for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent (Cavadino and Dignan 2007). The Criminal Justice System is complex and does not always get it right; therefore, suspects can be wrongfully convicted, becoming victims of miscarriages of justice. According to Ministry of Justice (2014), The Crown Court receive over 5000 applications for appeals against convictions given by magistrates, whilst the Court of Appeal receives over 1600 applications for appeals of 136158


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leave per year (in England and Wales). A miscarriage of justice can also refer to a guilty suspect walking free. A case cannot be titled as a miscarriage of justice until an appeal has been successful, until then, the person remains guilty (Naughton, 2007). As wrongful convictions and cases are assessed, from police corruption to false confessions, it seems there is typically more than one common factor present in most cases of wrongful convictions, which usually starts with the police. Cases including the Guildford 4, Maguire 7, Birmingham 6, Tottenham 3, Cardiff 3, Judith Ward, George Long, Dudley and Maynard and Mahmood Mattan demonstrate “police, forensic scientists and prosecution cannot be relied upon fairly to pass on evidence which may be helpful to the accused, despite there being no other agency which might uncover it in the interests of justice� (Walker and Starmer, 1999:54).

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The failing Criminal Justice System during the 1970s IRA war. During the IRA, police pressure led to a number of wrongful convictions which also helped expose the weaknesses of the Criminal Justice System. Miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions were particularly a concern during the 1970s, when Great Britain experienced brutal attacks of bombing committed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Laming (2011) discusses when public pressure arises for the police to find those responsible for serious crimes, there is a danger of a wrongful conviction since the police might be pressured to find somebody to arrest and convict. The case of the Birmingham 6 was the signal for the passage of the Prevention of Terrorism Acts 1974 as at that time, Britain saw its highest number of terrorist attacks due to conflict between the Protestants and Catholics. There were bombs either side of Ireland and the UK, which led


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to police racism against the Irish (Leo, 2008, cited in Turvey and Cooley, 2014). A high number of high profile cases related to the Irish Republican Army, including the Birmingham 6, Guildford 4, Maguire 7 and Ward were later recognised as wrongful convictions (Nobles and Schiff, 2000). The weaknesses in the Criminal Justice System were exposed and each case was an appalling reminder to the public of how the Criminal Justice System was failing. “The treatment in interrogation of Irish suspects detained in England and Wales following bombings on the mainland was problematic. The suspects were held in connection with incidents that generated public outrage, where there was intense media coverage and considerable pressure on the police to get a conviction” (Easton, 2014:130).

The failing Criminal Justice System Discrepancies start with the police; the main actors within the Criminal Justice

System, the decision confirmers and trials end with the courts and jury. According to Walker and Starmer (1999), prisoners are frequently subjected to more than one form of abuse of authority. The police are the main actors within the Criminal Justice System process and the process formally begins when an offense comes to the attention of the police, which is where problems usually arise, “with allegations such as harassment and assault, to the end of entanglement with the state, when machinery to reopen problematic judgements has been shown to be unfair and inappropriate” (Walker and Starmer, 1999:52). The police and Crown Prosecution Service collaborate and decide whether to prosecute. Rather than being decision makers, the police are decision confirmers. The Crown Prosecution Service and courts must deal with cases presented to them via the police. It seems police misconduct (incompetent police investigation, oppression, 138160


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discrimination, fabrication of evidence and numerous false confessions) is a common factor regarding wrongful convictions. Other causes of wrongful convictions include mental instability, false allegations and poor defence (Naughton, 2007). Leo (2008, cited in Turvey and Cooley, 2014:124) claims “the Criminal Justice System often suffers from confirmation bias and tunnel vision in cases of false confessions. Police interrogators often refuse to stop and consider they are interrogating an innocent person and they might be provoking false admissions, and when they obtain the admission they then treat it as confirmation of their belief in the suspects guilt, rather than a hypothesis to be tested against case evidence.” Interviews often lead to interrogation and on some occasions after a suspect has been interrogated and accused, their innocence has become apparent, nevertheless, it is difficult to prove innocence once the investigator has made their decision 161139

the defender is guilty. Interrogation is a powerful psychological technique in getting even innocent suspects to talk and confess. Pragmatists see confession as the easiest and quickest way to ending intolerable and problematic situations, for example when one experiences interrogation (Turvey and Cooley, 2014). The Guildford 4 oppression. The Guildford 4 were induced by oppression and interrogation – threats of violence and assault to their family, an excessive length of time without sleep, food and drink and they were tortured and beaten into signing confessions (Naughton, 2007). Little evidence suggested they were involved; they were convicted based on the evidence of their own ‘confessions.’ Kee (1989) highlights the police were rather persuasive with the fabrication of notes and May (1994 cited in Kee, 1989) discusses doubt upon three officers with the discovery of roughly typed notes, containing


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handwritten amendments and photocopies; these were seen not to be contemporaneously. The Guildford 4 case was finally quashed after three appeals and public outrage and campaigning, this prompted reconsideration of the Maguire 7 case. Unreliable forensic evidence carried out by forensic scientist Skuse helped secure several wrongful conviction cases including the Maguire 7, the Birmingham 6 and Ward. The Maguire 7 (cited in Naughton, 2007) were wrongly convicted of handling explosives found during the investigation of the Guildford 4 bombing. Intense coercion by the police resulted in false confessions, but what was more concerning was the unreliable forensic evidence carried out by forensic scientist Skuse later showed to be innocent contamination - traces of nitroglycerine that were considered as third party traces left in the house from previous owners (Walker and Starmer, 1999).

Skuse’s unreliable forensic evidence also helped secure the convictions of Ward and the B6. Ward was convicted for delivering bombs. Similarly, to the Maguire 7 case, the main piece of forensic evidence against Ward was traces of nitroglycerine on her hands, in her bag and in her caravan (Walker and Starmer, 1993). “Thin layer chromatography and the Griess test were used to establish the presence of nitroglycerine” (Innocent, 2016). Furthermore, several forensic scientists involved in Wards case withheld evidence or exaggerated its prominence. When new evidence regarding the Birmingham 6 was referred back to the court of Appeal in 1988, Skuse’s forensic evidence proved to be unreliable and unsatisfactory. Skuse declared “he was ninety-nine per cent certain Paddy Hill and Billy Power had been handing explosives based on results he obtained from griess tests” (Woffinden 1987:284-285, cited in Naughton, 2007). Evidence that 140162


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proved positive results using the Griess test could be obtained with materials innocently picked up from shoe polish, playing cards and other household items, therefore, the Griess tests were unreliable and valueless (Naughton, 2013). Mental instability and discrimination can contribute to unreliable confessions of crime while racism can lead to discrimination and prejudice punishments. Mental instability and delusions can result in wrongful convictions. Foot (1993) claims not only was Ward a victim of unreliable forensic evidence, but a victim of discrimination for being Irish, extreme oppression and inhumane treatment at her arrest. Ward was found on the streets and was taken into question simply because she held an Irish driving license. Ward was interviewed all night, with no sleep for twenty-eight hours. Police failed to inform the courts of Wards mental illness history, 163141

attempted suicide during custody and changed her confession several times (Innocent, 2016). The police knew Ward was not at the scene of the bombing but were not discouraged in blaming and discriminating her. The police and prosecution selected parts of Wards statement to construct a plausible statement to the courts (Foot, 1993). In the case of the Tottenham 3 (cited in Nobles and Schiff, 2000), Silcott, Raghip and Braithwaite were convicted for murder of PC Blakelock in 1985. During their appeal, it was discovered in Silcott’s case, notes of the interview were altered, whereas Raghip’s confession was a result of his mental instability and Braithwaite was unfairly denied a lawyer. Likewise, George Long (of the Cardiff 3, was convicted in 1990 for the murder of a prostitute) had a history of mental instability and provided unreliable confessions to the police which was not put forward to the courts and Long


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was denied a lawyer (Naughton, 2007).

prosecution to give false evidence (Naughton, 2007).

Prison informants and inmates may provide wrong evidence in exchange of a bargain.

The prejudice courts and jury.

Prison informants can assist wrongful convictions with errant behaviours of agents within the Criminal Justice System offering inducements (such as sentence discount) to prisoners in return of wrongful identification evidence (Naughton, 2007). Prison grasses give false evidence and in Dudley and Maynard’s case, they were wrongfully convicted “as a consequence of a bargain between the police and an informant who reduced his sentence in exchange for the necessary evidence of the conviction of Dudley and Maynard” (Naughton, 2007:60) A similar example of this is the case of Mattan, who was executed at Cardiff prison for the murder of Lily Volpert due to wrong evidence given by Harold Cover who was paid by the

Cavadino and Dignan (2007) discuss while the courts must base decisions on evidence that is presented to them, there are opportunities for the courts (who have the power to convict) to wrongfully convict an innocent person. The jury, which usually consists of twelve middle-class people (the homeless, renters, students, ethnic minorities are excluded from being called to jury) representing the community. The jury can be prejudice and discriminate against a defendant, Furthermore, the jury may base their decisions on the public and the media, rather than the evidence presented in court (Nobles and Schiff, 2000).

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The Criminal Justice System is concerned with the processes of the system instead of convicting the guilty and freeing the innocent Naughton (2007:14) suggests a tension between public and political discourses on miscarriages of justice; “those committed to due process express concerns about the possible wrongful conviction of the factually innocent. However, those committed to crime control express concerns about the need to ensure guilty offenders receive their just desert”. The Criminal Justice System does not guarantee release of the factually innocent nor the conviction of the factually guilty, instead it depends upon a system of rules regulations, claiming suspects receive a fair trial (Naughton, 2007). The courts can only work with evidence presented to them, and it seems fair on paper, but the reality is far more complex. Neither the Criminal Justice System nor the state give much thought to wrongful convictions; instead their concern is 165143

with the processes of the system instead of freeing the innocent and convicting the guilty. The fact a guilty offender can escape justice creates fundamental tension between the public and the law, with a legal system overturning convictions of guilty offenders, whilst innocent victims are put in prison with uncertainty to overturning a conviction. This leads to a deserving and undeserving debate regarding victims of miscarriages of justice (Nobles and Schiff, 2000). According to (Corteen, Morley et al 2016:137) “victims fall in a grey area in which it is not or cannot be known whether they are actually innocent or guilty as the criminal appeal system overturns convictions on the basis that they are unsafe in law as opposed to morally wrongful”. In addition, alleged victims of miscarriages of justice will never be accredited as victims by the legal system and the consequence might be that they will not be eligible for aftercare services, nor compensation after a successful


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appeal. The state has formed an unfair Criminal Justice System and do not want to take responsibility for errors or invest in caring for offenders during and after prison. According to (Naughton, 2007) the Criminal Cases Review Commission receive over onethousand applications per year, yet the state, prosecution and courts and other law enforcements play this number down.

Conclusion Overall, wrongful convictions occur when an innocent suspect is found guilty for a crime they did not commit. Once they are found guilty, it is extremely difficult to overturn their sentence. Most wrongful convictions cases are a result of police failure. Nevertheless, forensics, prosecution, false allegations, the courts, jurors and pressure to arrest and convict somebody due to public pressure are also some common factors leading to false convictions. The police (in particular) and the Criminal Justice System are under extreme budgeting

cuts and public pressure; therefore, they are under much pressure to act quickly by convicting somebody. The problem is that by convicting innocent people leaves the guilty to remain free amongst the public to continue committing more crimes, allowing for more victims to be questioned and convicted for crimes they did not commit. The public are concerned with the Criminal Justice System; however, the state argue the Criminal Justice System provides a fair trial for all. The cases of wrongful conviction during the 1970s, for instance, the Guildford 4, has made the public aware of the failing Criminal Justice System and has influenced various reforms, despite this the Criminal Justice System still does not work. Regrettably, miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions will always occur due to human involvement.

References Cavadino, M. and Dignan, J. (2007). The Penal System: an introduction. 4th ed. London: Sage Publications. 144166


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Corteen, K., Morley, S., Turner, J. and Taylor, P. (2016). A Companion to Crime, Harm and Victimisation. 1st ed. Bristol: Policy Press. Pg 137. Court Statistics Quarterly January to March 2014. (2014). 1st ed. [ebook] London: Ministry of Justice. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/upload s/system/uploads/attachment_data/file /321352/court-statistics-jan-mar2014.pdf [Accessed 11 Nov. 2016]. Easton, S. (2014). Silence and Confessions: The Suspect as the Source of Evidence. 1st ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Pg.130. Foot, P. (1993). Still it goes on. London Review of Books, 15(21). Innocent. (2016). “Ambushed” – the story of Judith Ward. [online] Available at: https://innocent.org.uk/2016/07/10/am bushed-the-story-of-judith-ward/ [Accessed 4 Nov. 2016]. 167145

Laming, P. (2011). Glial Cells: Their Role in Behaviour. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Naughton, M. (2007). Rethinking miscarriages of justice - Beyond the tip of the iceberg. 1st ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Pg:14,16,60. Naughton, M. (2013). The Innocent and the Criminal Justice System: A Sociological Analysis of Miscarriages of Justice. 1st ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Newburn, T., Williamson, T. and Wright, A. (2011). Handbook of criminal investigation. 1st ed. Cullompton, UK: Oxon. Nobles, R. and Schiff, D. (2000). Understanding Miscarriages of Justice. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sanders, A., Young, R. and Burton, M. (2010). Criminal Justice. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


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Turvey, B. and Cooley, C. (2014). Miscarriages of justice. 1st ed. Oxford: Elsevier. Pg.124. Kee, R. (1989). Trial and Error. Suffolk: Penguin Books. Walker, C. and Starmer, K. (1993). Justice in error. 1st ed. London: Blackstone Press. Walker, C. and Starmer, K. (1999). Miscarriages of Justice - A review of justice in error. 1st ed. Oxford: Blackstone Press Limited. Pg.52,5

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