Love across cultural boundaries
Sue Bishop, a local mature student studying at Leicester, is keen to hear from women around the county willing to share memories of their long-term mixed romantic relationships.
Sue has recently started the next stage of her studies with the School of History, Politics and International Relations. She has been awarded a three-year History PhD studentship by the Midlands Three Cities Doctoral Training Partnership, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Sue would like to hear from any woman who had a long-term romantic relationship in Leicester, at any time between 1948 and 1985, with a man whose nationality or ethnicity differed from her own and who is willing to help with the research. Sue is particularly keen to explore the religious and/or cultural diversity that she was immersed in as a result.
The findings of her previous study carried out last year reinforced Sue’s commitment to the study of romantic love across cultural boundaries.
The scope of Sue’s project has been extended to incorporate the collection of up to 30 life histories of women who dared to cross national, ethnic and religious boundaries in pursuit of romantic love.
Sue said: “The research I carried out on this topic last year only skimmed the surface of what there is to know about mixed romantic relationships.
“Studying this very sensitive and intimate topic creates a new perspective on how attitudes towards religious, national and ethnic difference developed during the period. The study is likely to challenge any existing perceptions that these relationships were universally accepted by families, communities and wider society.”
- Sue Bishop can be contacted on skb47@leicester.ac.uk
- Press release