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Media and the Inner World - journalists and academics launch innovative research network

Tuesday 10 March 2009

Eminent journalists David Aaronovitch and Margaret Walters, and internationally renowned scholars including Robert M Young and Mike Rustin were among speakers at a launch symposium for Media and the Inner World, a new research network involving academics and media practitioners working together to explore the place of emotion and therapy in contemporary popular culture.

Organised by Dr Candida Yates, Senior Lecturer in Psychosocial Studies at the University of East London’s (UEL) and Dr Caroline Bainbridge, Reader in the School of Arts at Roehampton University, Media and the Inner World is a two year research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and was launched at Roehampton University on Saturday 7 March.

The media research network will involve academics, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and media figures working together on a two year research project to explore the place of emotion and therapy in contemporary popular culture.

Dr Yates said:
"This new network will ask important questions about the emotional and therapeutic quality of the media today and how this impacts on individuals and society.

"The public are surrounded by images of therapy in TV dramas such as Mad Men, and we often follow the emotional journey of celebrities such as Jade Goody. In addition, we listen to phone-in radio shows like Vanessa, which often use the language of therapy to explore the dilemmas of Londoners who phone in. This network will help shape new understandings of these issues and why they are so prevalent today."

The symposium covered topics relating to how the media can trigger the feelings of viewers, therapy and the inner world; mediating identity; and culture as therapy.
The opening event at Roehampton University sets the scene for the debates to come over the next couple of years by paying particular attention to the idea that culture can be therapeutic in some way.

Along with Dr Yates and Dr Bainbridge, other experts speaking at the event included Michael Rustin, Professor of Sociology at UEL, Valerie Walkerdine, Professor of Social Sciences at Cardiff University; Brett Kahr, Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Psychotherapy and Mental Health at the Centre for Child Mental Health in London; Barry Richards, Professor of Public Communication at Bournemouth University.

For further information visit www.miwnet.org

Ends.

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Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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