Reconfiguring past and present through creative research in “A Car for Women and Other Stories”

Description

“A Car for Women and Other Stories” focuses on pioneering female engineer and car manufacturer Dorothée Pullinger and the ground-breaking training facility for women engineers she helped establish in South-west Scotland. The project combines archival research, site visits, elements of oral history, documentary and song with a connection to pedagogy. The research engages with community and bridging time and place, invoking Freire: Every thematic investigation which deepens historical awareness is this really educational, while al authentic education investigates thinking. (1993:90) The Tongland factory was powered by hydro-electricity and promoted as a modern environment suited to women workers with enhanced recreation facilities. The disused factory and the derelict hydro-electric facility encapsulate the ambition, the partially realised aims and the forgotten endeavour of Galloway enterprise. As Bachelard notes: Often it is from the very fact of concentration in the most restricted intimate space that the dialectics of inside and outside draws its strength. (1994:229) The research has brought these forgotten stories to new and diverse audiences. It goes beyond the idea that “in history and in nature one can only know what exists” ( Althusser, 2008: 89)considering what might have been or even what should have existed, illustrates unrealised potential and significant achievement in the face of patriarchal resistance. The Galloway Car presents an intriguing moment in the advance of gender equality, conflating industrial production and cultural production ( Bourdieu P. 1993: 82) . The paper provides an overview of the research project with screened extracts of the documentary.

Period	28 Aug 2019
Event title	IUAES 2019 Inter-Congress, World Solidarities
Event type	Conference
Location	Poznan , PolandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International