Out of the Shadows: First Workshop
The first meeting of the Out of the Shadows project took place at Friends House London on Monday the 22nd of May. This workshop was designed as an opportunity for the network of early career researchers and senior academics to meet, and discuss how their areas of expertise can be delivered to secondary school students and supplement subjects on the existing GCE and A-level curricula. In advance of the workshop, participants were provided with copies of the GCE and A-level curricula for England and Wales and asked to consider how their research could support the existing courses. The resulting papers outlined participants’ ongoing research projects, and explored the ways in which this research could be brought to secondary schools. What follows is a short summary of the workshop.
Research Presentations
The workshop opened with a presentation by the project-lead, Dr Luca Trenta, reaffirming the core goals of the Out of the Shadows project to those in attendance. Dr Trenta also outlined the projects initial engagement events, to be delivered in September, October, and November 2017. The first of these will take place at Swansea University. This will bring together participants, partner organisations, teachers as well as a select number of GCE and A-level students. In addition to this, Out of the Shadows is partnering with Gorwel, the independent Welsh think-tank, for an additional event in October. Out of the Shadows will also be working in conjunction with the College of Arts and Humanities at Swansea University, to organise events as part of the Swansea Hub of the 2017 Being Human Festival. The project is also working with Reaching Wider to organise events throughout the summer.
Dr Rory Cormac, associate professor at Nottingham University, was the first to present. Dr Cormac’s research focused on the British approach to covert action. The research paper examined a distinct British approach to covert action and distilled five features which constitute a “British way”. During the paper, Dr Cormac noted that while considerable attention has been directed towards American covert action, the U.K’s own record is much longer and under-examined. A panel discussion established the relevance of Dr Cormac’s expertise in supporting curricula subjects on British decolonisation, UK politics, and the history of the Cold War. A summary of Dr Cormac’s contribution can be found here.
The second presentation of the day directed attention towards American covert action. Chris Hoekstra opened the panel presenting his research project focussing on US Special Operations policy in South Vietnam. The paper outlined the development of American Special Operations Forces in the country and charted the gradual militarisation of the SOF mission there between 1957 and 1965. His research then asked which lessons can be discerned from this experience in the twenty first century as SOF are increasingly relied upon by the United States. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was the subject of Francesca Akhtar’s paper. A history of this underexplored agency was presented before addressing the role of the DIA in America’s past conflicts, and charting its continued significance in the post- Cold War world, especially in America’s post-9/11 conflicts.
Both papers displayed specialist expertise in curricula relevant subject areas. Based on his past experience as teacher, Chris proposed areas in which his research can be translated to the classroom and how methodological approaches to his research would support students’ attainment of crucial skills. He acknowledged how the role of Special Operations Forces and an analysis of the evolution of their role in Vietnam is not given sufficient attention. Similarly, Francesca’s project occupies a niche space, focussing on an understudied agency within the US defence and intelligence community, thus supporting UK students in history and politics – such as those on courses such as global politics, comparative politics, and government and politics of the US.
William Carruthers presented a study addressing an increasingly relevant issue impacting upon UK and US politics: cyber operations. William contextualised offensive cyber operations and analysed state actions and objectives in this domain. This research illuminates what is a widely discussed but little understood area of contemporary international security studies. As such, it is directly relevant to courses on global politics.
In the final panel of the workshop Amanda Niedfeldt and Olivier Lewis addressed non-military forms of covert action. Amanda explored the relationship between artist and the state during the Cold War, analysing the Ford Foundation’s role in supporting state objectives through philanthropic programmes in the arts. This research would support students develop critical evaluation skills, challenging them to examine comparative perspectives within this field. Olivier’s presentation explored the contradictions inherent in open economies, security and intelligence cooperation, and the interest in sovereignty and political independence. His research directly addressed important subsections of the global politics curricula locating covert action within a security trilemma.
Going Forward
The final round-table included contributions from Dr Simon Willmetts, Dr Claire Hubbard-Hall, Dr Vladimir Rauta and Josh Niderost from the Political Studies Association (PSA). Overall, the expertise of the gathered participants can directly supplement a number of areas on the existing school curriculum, including:
The development of warfare – the evolution of tactics, strategy, technology, and the role of women in war
History of the Cold War and specialist knowledge in overlooked, niche subject areas
The conventional and unconventional history of the Vietnam War
Global political affairs
US and UK domestic and international politics
US and UK history including colonisation and decolonisation
Each of the papers presented in this workshop support many of the politics and history areas of the existing curricula in England and Wales. The network is comprised of member distributed throughout England, Wales, and Scotland. All members of project are eager to begin engaging with teachers and schools. Alongside the events mentioned above, we want to explore how the study of covert action, and the interdisciplinary expertise of the existing network of ECRs and senior academics, can contribute to existing curricula, assist in allowing students to attain crucial skills and develop their understanding of these subject areas, as well as exploring long-term opportunities for focussed extra-curricular activities.
