Finding our Funny Roots: delving into Black Country humour 

Artsfest /Artsfest 2020 / Finding our Funny Roots: delving into Black Country humour

Students from the University’s School of Humanities have been working alongside the Finding our Funny Roots project which was run by Creative Black Country to find out what is unique about Black Country Dialect humour.

Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project has been looking to unearth stories of comedians and comedy from 1950 to the year 2000.

Students studying for degrees in English Language and Linguistics and English Language and Creative & Professional Writing volunteered to take part in the research as part of a Humanities Business and Community Link module on their courses and alongside English Language Senior Lecturer, Josiane Boutonnet, have conducted archives research and oral history interviews to find out what is unique about Black Country Dialect Humour. They have been working with local spoken word collective Poets, Prattlers and Pandemonialists to produce a heritage tribute performance which was showcased at the Funny Things Festival Oct 2019 and in care homes in the Black Country.

Karen Adcock is a final year English Language and Creative and Professional Writing student.

Amy Amison and Simon Williams are both English Language and Linguistics students.

They will discuss the project and their findings in a presentation as part of Artsfest 2020 hosted by the University of Wolverhampton.

Artsfest 2020

Beatrice Warde's VE Day Diary - A reading by Jessica Glaser / Liz Berry and Tom Hicks: In Conversation / In Conversation: Artist Dean Kelland and James Latunji-Cockbill Part 1 / Dr Max Stewart and Glass Artist Allister Malcolm in Conversation / Lisa Blower and Rob Francis in conversation / Louise Fenton - Lethal in Lace: The Story of a Witchcraft Poppet / Finding our Funny Roots: delving into Black Country humour / Books Across the Sea - Talk by Jessica Glaser / Dr Dean Kelland and James Latunji-Cockbill from IKON In conversation Pt2 / The Rise of Mass Fashion in the Black Country, Talk by Dr Jenny Gilbert / VJ Day Diary of Beatrice Warde - Reading By Jessica Glaser / Printing and Print Culture in the Midlands: a Webinar / Black Country Geopoetics, Talk and Workshop with Writer R.M. Francis / The Haunted and Cursed Dolls in Greyfriars Bothy, Dr Louise Fenton / Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles at Seventy, a talk by Dr Phil Nichols / Pen, Print and Communication in the Eighteenth Century: Webinar Book / We are Invisible, We are Visible / HoPIN Launch Event (History of the Printed Image Network) / 'Somehow', Poetry Reading and Talk with Helen Calcutt / Myriad Editions Literary Salon / Liz Berry Chats Dialect and Poetry with R. M. Francis