| AdminHistory | Charles Parker worked as a freelance lecturer in the 1960s and 1970s and this included a six seminar course at the University of Keele Popular Arts Course in the August of 1965. His lecturing work is of enormous significance and national importance. Charles Parker used 'actuality' recordings (voices and songs of ordinary people) to illustrate his belief that vernacular speech is the key to communication and that people, and particularly those in education, needed to learn from this in order to communicate effectively in the future. Another central theme of his lecturing was his belief that capitalist industrial society was in danger of losing touch with its historical and social traditions which are essential for establishing and maintaining a social identity.
The recordings in this series comprise examples of the 'actuality' used by Charles Parker in the Keele lectures rather than recordings of the lectures themselves.
The written documentation on the Keele University Popular Arts Course 1965 at MS 4000/1/3/1/12/2 includes detailed notes on the lectures Charles Parker gave in addition to notes on the actuality he used. |