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Dear Jiscmailers,
Thought you might like to see - and join in with - the discussion I have 
been having with one of our Mass Observers about the themes we shoose for 
the directives.

Mr Marshall doesn't mind you seeing his name.... and has given me 
permissiont o put this on the JISCMAIL discussion list so I shall include 
that. I have suggested he join the list so he can see what others say so 
please don't write directly to me on this. The idea is to share the 
discussion and broaden it out. I shall be reading it!
Best wishes,
Dorothy Sheridan
MOA Director

Below four messages - two from Mr Marshall and my replies.

From Mr John Marshall (1st message)

>> Thank you for the Summer Directive 2007 and the long and informative
>> letter from the Director, Dorothy Sheridan.  I am answering the question
>> on page 3 - 'Do you want to stay on our mailing list?'  Yes please, even
>> though I have not responded to recent Directives.  I think it is more
>> than a year since I made a contribution.  There are two reasons for
>> this.  The main one has been demands on my time for other writing
>> projects, as well as being away from home on a series of lengthy
>> overseas trips.
>>
>> The second reason is that the subjects chosen recently - with two
>> possible exceptions - have not really grabbed my interest.  Take the
>> last three Directives.  Autumn 2006 - 'home and contents' and
>> 'quotations'.  Neither is likely to set the world on fire.  I did
>> attempt the other offering, some thoughts on 'age', but other, more
>> pressing demands made me put it to one side.  Some day it might be
>> finished because I did a deal of background research.
>>
>> Spring 2007 - The smoking ban.  An excellent measure - and that's about
>> all there is to be said.  I haven't smoked for 40 years.  'Domestic
>> violence' - so predictable and I have no personal experience.
>>
>> Summer 2007 - Shopping - no thank you.  'Gardens and gardening' - no
>> interst in either subject.
>>
>> With respect I would suggest that the subjects chosen over the last
>> twelve months could have been lifted from an editorial meeting of
>> 'Woman's Own.'
>>
>> Because I enjoy contributing my thoughts to the Mass Observation Archive,
>> and wish to continue doing so, I would beg you to provide your
>> contributors with worthwhile subjects which go far beyond the Virago
>> feminist agenda.
>>
>> For the record I shall send you my thoughts on Age and Mourning, together
>> with a form to renew my membership of the Friends, by separate letter.
>>
>> And I do wish to remain on the mailing list.   With best wishes -



Reply from Dorothy


>> Dear XXXX,
>> Thanks for your email and thoughts on the themes. I appreciate you giving
>> us time to comment and I take your critique seriously although I think
>> your allusion to "Women's Own"  and "feminist virago" (what's that?)
>> were uncalled for! Do I detect a bit of male chauvinism? Actually women's
>> magazines often tackle very important issues - certainly as far as women
>> are concerned.
>>
>> You are a fairly new correspondent with us and I wonder whether you've
>> seen the full range of themes that we have covered since 1981?
>>
>> See
>>
> www.sussex.ac.uk/library/speccoll/collection_catalogues/massnewprojectdat
> e.htm> l
>> Maybe you could tell me which themes  would stimulate you to write more?
>> Send us a list!!!!
>> Also we are always happy to receive contributions independently of
>> directive themes.
>>
>> It is ironic that all the themes you cite have all been the basis of
>> serious academic research projects. I don't just dream them up and I
>> think quite hard before accepting a commission on a theme. We have been
>> collaborating with researchers in other universities on the directives.
>> Can I just defend the themes you mention for a moment?
>>
>> The gardening one is funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and
>> is the concern of a team from the University of Brighton who see
>> gardening as a way of understanding the changing nature of time use,
>> leisure, social meanings and social practices. It feeds into
>> understandings of gender, economics, work and life style.
>>
>> Domestic violence is a very difficult to research area. It is easy to
>> look at police records and statistics or at alarmist press coverage  but
>> harder to get at the less public experiences. Most people would be
>> nervous or cautious about opening up to a stranger interviewing them on
>> this subject. This is where the stories sent in by Mass Observers are
>> gold dust for researchers.  Of course (and thank goodness for that) lots
>> of people don't have direct experience to report. We are still
>> interested in their views.
>>
>> Shopping is something everyone has to do and may be regarded as trivial
>> but in fact this directive which had at its heart the theme of Fair
>> Trade goods was looking at how we make moral choices and it allows
>> people with political or ethical views to describe their experiences. It
>> raises issues about attitudes to global poverty and inequality in the
>> world.... I see that as being a very important issue.
>>
>> The Smoking ban - well that does affect everyone ebven non-smokers and
>> will have an impact on the health services. Personally I have never
>> smoked  and loathe the practice and the smoke so am enjoying the new
>> smoke-free atmospheres. My parents both died of smoking related
>> illnesses so I have strong feelings on the subject. the social practice
>> of smokinbg has so many links - health services, advertising, economics,
>> tax, business and the interaction between people in social settings.
>> fascinating for the anthropologist, the health specialist, the economist
>> and so on.
>>
>> Home and contents  was also commissioned by an academic - issues of life
>> style, spending, fashion, family relationships, economics, design, social
>> policy on housing..... key issues.
>>
>> Quotations is a complex question - understanding how people communicate
>> is important, and written communication is changing rapidly - again of
>> interest to sociologists, anthropologists and educationists.  You say it
>> doesn't set the world on fire but MO is precisely about the details of
>> everyday life - again that's why researchers use us.
>>
>> Finally - if you are still with me in this long reply, would you mind if
>> we put this correspondence (yours and mine but of course without your
>> name appearing)  on the MOA email discussion list as maybe other people
>> would like to comment on our choice of themes. I will also show your
>> letter to the researchers who collaborated with us on these subjects. I
>> am sure they'd be interested in hearing what you feel would be good
>> subjects for directives.
>> Let me know!
>>
>> And glad you are staying with us after all,
>> Dorothy


Mr Marshall's second letter

Dear Dorothy,

Thank you for taking the trouble to write such a detailed reply to my views 
on recent directives.  However, having read the reasons you put forward in 
their defence, I still maintain the subjects are relatively trivial in 
nature.

In paragraph 4 you say the themes 'have all been the basis of serious 
academic research projects.'  That this may be so endorses my view - which 
I suspect is also held by other non-academics - that no matter how these 
topics may be dressed up in jargon-laden gobbledygook, they are, 
neverthless, are of no value to the general good of the nation.  It also 
leads to the occasional media stories that is possible to attend certain 
colleges and eventually graduate with a diploma in flower arranging or 
ballroom dancing.

Phrases used in favour of the gardinging project, such as 'understanding 
the changing nature of time use, leisure, social meanings and social 
practice' illustrate my point.  People have been gardening since Adam was a 
lad.  It cannot be argued that over the centuries the nature of 'time use' 
in gardening has changed.  Gardeners dig over and prepare the ground;  they 
plant the seeds;  they tend the shoots;  and, eventually, they harvest the 
crops and enjoy their flavours in a meal, or they cut the flowers and 
display them in a vase.  It is an activity which gives our many gardeners a 
sense of pride and satisfaction in a job well done.  That is enough for 
them.  They can exisit quite happily for the remainder of therio fulfilled 
lives without feeding 'into understandings of gender, economics, work and 
life style' - whatever that may mean.  Perhaps the Arts and Humanities 
Research Council would benefit from a breath of fresh air while undertaking 
a spell of manual work in the garden.

Similar comments could be made about researchers in their ivory towers 
expressing interest in domestic violence or shopping.   I think it may be 
for the best if we agree to differ.

You ask for a list of subjects which would stimulate myself (and other 
contributors) to write more.  I'm only too happy to oblige.  When 
discussing shopping (paragraph 7) you mention the moral choices involved. 
There are several subjects, listed in no particular order of preference, 
where moral choices have a genuine significance.

Dafur  The new Prime Minister and the new French President have 
demonstrated their concern about the plight of the hundreds of thousandsof 
wretched souls living and dying in abject squalor and poverty while the 
Sudanese Government denies - as it has done for many years - that any 
problem exists.  It is a complex problem with (as is so often the case) 
religious bigotry a root cause of hatred between people.


Zimbabwe  What a frightening place must be.  Rampant inflation.  Chronic 
widespread unemployment.  Brutal intimidation of any opposition to Mugabe 
and his fat-cat bullies.  A lack of any information about daily life.  A 
brave Catholic archbishop as a lone voice of protest.  A lack of will among 
neighbouring African states unwilling to criticise Mugabe (particularly 
South Africa which should know better after years of apartheid).  And 
Britain, the former Colonial power which helped bring Mugabe to office 
after the racisit Ian Smith had been toppled, washing its hands of the 
whole sorry affair.

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan  Now Tony Blair has gone how much 
longer do our young men and women  in the Armed Services have to continue 
giving their lives in these futiler conflicts?

As unforgivable as having military personnel locked into these dangerous 
places is the way we, as a nation,treat these brave people and their 
families.  There is the scandal over the delayed inquests on those who are 
killed in these conflicts.  There is the scandal over the apparently 
indifferent attitude by the authorities to those who are wounded (many of 
them seriously, both physically and mentally).  All the military hospitals 
were closed down years ago.  The strap-cashed NHS finds itself carrying 
this additional burden (and the state of the NHS is another subject upon 
which all your contributors must have a view).  There is the scandal of the 
slims they call 'married quarters' where Service families are housed while 
their loved ones often face  unecessary danger, hardship and equipment 
shortages.

Multi-cultural Britain  A vast subject which would possibly call for 
several directives covering religious issues, asylum seekers, workers from 
the new EU countries taking jobs the indigenous population scorn, lack of 
English-speaking skills, styles of dress, policing the minorities - are 
they treated differently because of the colour of their skins?  The 
millionaire business men with dubious backgrounds who are taking over our 
football clubs, our public utilities, our supermarkets, our enegy supplies.

Politicians - lack of public trust  Honours for cash donations.  Dodgy 
dossiers about weapons of mass destruction which didn't exist.  Promises 
made and never kept.  Spin.  When mistakes are discovered blaming the media 
for getting the story 'out of context.'  A reluctance to say 'Sorry.'  An 
even greater reluctance to resign when mistakes have been made.  A general 
attitude of treating the public with contempt except once every five years 
when their votes are required.  Increasing corruption at elections.  A 
general tendency to explain away bad election results as 'encouraging 
trends.'  And a general inertia among all politicians to seek solutions to 
any of these problems.

Climate change  The local perspective - flooding, drought, seasonal 
difference, the relevance of individual 'carbon footprints'.  Does being 
'Green' make any difference?  And the wider picture of melting ice caps, 
deforestation, Bush's denial that climate change is a problem.  There are 
also the 'Great Polluters' - India and China.  Is it too late to conserve 
the future for our children and grand-children?  Within fifty years will 
the planet still be habitable?  How will the suvivors regard us.  Might we 
have done a great deal more to ensure their future was worthwhile?

The terrorist threat (which I separate from multi-culturalism).  Two years 
ago 52 people were murdered in London by a small group of British-born 
fanatics.  A short time before July 2005 hundreds more died on commuter 
trains entering Madrid.  Scores of young people died in a fire bombed 
nightclub in Bali.  Two thousand plus died horrible deaths when the World 
Trade Center and other US icons were attacked.  The world has become an 
increasingly dangerous place.  How do we cope with these images always at 
the back of our minds?

Just a few items which ought to attract a decent response because everyone 
can relate to them.  We are all involved.

I would be delighted if this correspondence appears on the MOA e-mail 
discussion list.  I can see no reason why my name should not be attached to 
my contribution.

It has been a most stimulating exchange of views.  With best wishes - John 
Marshall


And my reply:

Dear John,
I have no argument with you about the importance of the international
events and major national issues you list. We have - as you will have seen
from our list - covered many similar issues in the past from the war in
Iraq, 9/11, the bombing of the underground in London, the floods in New
Orleans, the Tsunami, through to immigration, race, crime, the middle East
and the Gulf War. Because the number of directives is necessarily limited,
we will never be fast enough to coincide with current affairs as they
happen and we rely on people to to write spontaneously if they feel an
issue is crucial.

My own analysis is that all these issues are related. What we feel about
ethical shopping,  for example, links to our attitudes to global poverty,
war, racism. I saw a film about US interests in South America last week by
John Pilger. Perhaps you have seen it ? It begins by focussing on
Venezuala. So much of what happens in the world is determined by the power
of vested interests. I see personal and plitical issues being completely
intertwined.... and I think that the researchers who use us also work
within this framework. It's the relationship between the macro and
micro.... and thew ay we are individuals navigate our ways through the
broader sweeps of ecomonic and political history. MO in the 1930s was a
pioneer in understanding this relationship.

But bear in mind that many media and polling organisations ask for opinions
on these issues all the time. There is no shortage of quantitative data on
UK public opinion around for the present or future researcher.

MO aims at something very different and is set up to document  direct  life
story *experience*.  That's our particular strength as I said before. And
that is what most writers for us seem to prefer to do. It's harder for some
people to write about things that are not part of their direct experience.
The issues are still important - eg health and domestic violence seem to me
to be crucial issues for all of us. I am a bit shocked at your critique of
our including domestic violence. But maybe that's one of the problems -
some men don't take it seriously.  Your response in itself will contribute
to the research data!

 I must repeat that you are welcome to set your own themes and write about
those. Many of our correspondents do just that from time to time and we
welcome unprompted contributions.
Thanks for giving me permission to put our correspondence  on the
discussion list. It will probably appear next week. If you want to join,see
www.massobs.org.uk/join_our_email_list.htm

I must stop here as I must do other work..... on the Jiscmail i am sure
others will take over the discussion!

All the best
Dorothy

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