In this fifteen-minute conversation, host Véronique Faber speaks with Dr. Vanessa Toulmin, Professor at the University of Sheffield and founder of the National Fairground and Circus Archive, to explore the tradition of “barking” or “telling the tale” at the fairground. Coming from a show people family herself, Dr. Toulmin shares both historical insights and personal memories of this vocal performance used to attract visitors. She discusses how the practice has evolved through shifts in technology and music—highlighting how showmanship continues to adapt and embrace new developments. The episode concludes with a story about the Crazy Cinematograph, a traveling cinema at Luxembourg’s Schueberfouer.

 This episode wouldn’t have come together without Dr. Vanessa Toulmin’s stories and reflections, Hanna Siemaszko’s podcast wisdom, and Isabelle Voegeli’s thoughtful facilitation at C²DH. Thanks also the MediaLab at the University of Luxembourg.

 Publication on social media

 This fifteen-minute oral history, produced by the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH), features a conversation between Dr. Vanessa Toulmin, Professor at the University of Sheffield and founder of the National Fairground and Circus Archive, and host Véronique Faber, PhD student on the Popkult60 project

 Together, they explore the tradition of “barking” or “telling the tale”—the vocal performance that invites visitors into the fairground experience. Drawing from historical research and personal memories as someone from a showpeople family, Dr. Toulmin reflects on how this practice continues to evolve through changing technologies and music. The episode closes with a story about the Crazy Cinematograph, a traveling cinema at Luxembourg’s Schueberfouer.

🎙️ With thanks to:

• Dr. Vanessa Toulmin for sharing her stories and insights
• Hanna Siemaszko for podcast expertise and support
• Isabelle Voegeli for facilitating this podcast at C²DH
• MediaLab, University of Luxembourg

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Le 9 mai, aujourd’hui "Journée de l’Europe", rappelle les débuts de l’Europe communautaire. Lorsque Robert Schuman, à l’époque ministre français des Affaires étrangères, propose le 9 mai 1950 la mise en commun de la production du charbon et de l’acier sous une haute autorité supranational, le projet n’est pas acquis d’office. La genèse de la déclaration Schuman est racontée à travers les hommes de l’entourage de Schuman et de leurs actions. Ce podcast met en lumière les derniers jours, voire les dernières heures avant que Robert Schuman ne s’adresse dans sa fameuse conférence de presse le soir du 9 mai 1950 aux Européens.  

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Dans cet épisode, nous avons utilisé, entre autres, les sons suivants :
- pouchard.wav by schafferdavid -- https://freesound.org/s/162132/ -- License : Attribution 4.0
- The_Star-Spangled_Banner - Composition : John Stafford Smith Exécution : U.S. Army 1st Armored Division Band, Domaine public, via Wikimedia Commons

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Camilla Portesani – On participatory public history, working with museums, and writing a thesis along the way

In our fourth episode, we are joined by Camilla Portesani, a doctoral candidate working on the PHACS Project (Public History as the new Citizen Science of the Past) since 2021. As part of her PhD, Camilla launched the Participatory Public History Lab, a pilot project developed in collaboration with the House of European History in Brussels. Her work has meant working across departments, institutions, and mindsets, navigating the complex realities of collaborative frameworks in large cultural institutions, all while bringing together a group of students-turned-co-curators.

Tune in as Camilla shares her reflections on the project, what it’s like to collaborate with major institutions, the skills she had to develop along the way, and the juggling act of doing hands-on work while writing a PhD thesis.

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C²PhD -  the podcast series that looks at ('sees to') the doctoral researchers among the members of C²DH and explores the stories, ambitions, and ideas that have shaped and continue to shape their thesis journey at C²DH. Through short ten- to fifteen-minute conversations, you get a short glimpse of what doing a PhD at our research centre looks like

In our third episode, we are joined by Zoé Konsbruck, a doctoral candidate working on the history of deindustrialisation in Luxembourg. Having pursued part of her undergrad studies in Luxembourg, she left for Munich, before returning to Luxembourg two years ago. While her research is Luxembourg-focused, as she looks into the impact of the steel crisis in towns throughout southwestern Luxembourg, her project is anything but local. From the onset, she took part in international networks of academics and historians such as the DEPOT and CONDE projects, before deciding to take things a step further and successfully applying for the Europaeum Scholars Programme, a two-year policy and leadership training course. Tune in as Zoé shares her insights on diversifying and shaping the PhD journey into your own, acquiring new skills and experiences, and what ice cream has to do with all of this.

Host Joé Voncken, historian and himself a doctoral researcher at the centre currently in the fourth year of his thesis project, initially came up this podcast project as part of a DESCOM internship in Science Communication which took place over the course of summer and autumn of '24. Since then, the project has developed a life of its own, with a total of four episodes to come out on a monthly basis between December '24 and March '25, and more in the works.

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C²PhD -  the podcast series that looks at ('sees to') the doctoral researchers among the members of C²DH and explores the stories, ambitions, and ideas that have shaped and continue to shape their thesis journey at C²DH. Through short ten- to fifteen-minute conversations, you get a short glimpse of what doing a PhD at our research centre looks like.

In our second episode, we are joined by Nicolas Arendt, a doctoral candidate navigating the unique challenges and opportunities of a cotutelle program at two universities. Since 2022, Nicolas has been splitting his time between Luxembourg University and Vienna University while working on the TransARB project. This transnational research project, funded by the Luxembourgish Fonds National de la Recherche, explores the transformation of the ARBED company since the 1970s. Tune in as Nicolas shares his insights into managing research across borders, balancing time between two institutions, and, of course, his pick for the best university restaurant.

Host Joé Voncken, historian and himself a doctoral researcher at the centre currently in the fourth year of his thesis project, initially came up this podcast project as part of a DESCOM internship in Science Communication which took place over the course of summer and autumn of '24. Since then, the project has developed a life of its own, with a total of four episodes to come out on a monthly basis between December '24 and March '25, and more in the works.

Discover how C²DH is redefining history with digital innovation, community engagement, and groundbreaking research: C²DH - Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History

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C²PhD -  the podcast series that looks at ('sees to') the doctoral researchers among the members of C²DH and explores the stories, ambitions, and ideas that have shaped and continue to shape their thesis journey at C²DH. Through short ten- to fifteen-minute conversations, you get a short glimpse of what doing a PhD at our research centre looks like.

For this very first episode, public historian and visiting researcher Marianna Tavares talks about the experiences she made her ten-month stay in Luxembourg. Marianna, who is currently pursuing a PhD focused on teacher's narratives in a quarter of her home city of Natal in Northeastern Brazil, speaks about her dual identity as a teacher and academic, her main takeaways of her stay abroad, and  –  perhaps most importantly  –  about her deep affection for Luxembourg's buses.
Marianna also recently gave an interview in which she delves into further aspects of her research.

Host Joé Voncken, historian and himself a doctoral researcher at the centre currently in the third year of his thesis project, initially came up this podcast project as part of a DESCOM internship in Science Communication which took place over the course of summer and autumn of '24. Since then, the project has developed a life of its own, with a total of four episodes to come out on a monthly basis between November '24 and February '25, and more in the works.

Discover how C²DH is redefining history with digital innovation, community engagement, and groundbreaking research: C²DH - Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History

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Since the 1970s, deindustrialisation has fundamentally changed Western societies. Interestingly, Luxembourg has confronted the decline of its steel industry in a particular way. The CONDE project seeks to explore deindustrialisation in a systematic historical perspective and place it in wider political, economic, social and cultural contexts. The project is led by the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) in Munich.  C²DH is one of nine collaborating institutions.

C²DH historians Stefan Krebs, Zoé Konsbruck and Nicolas Arendt, spoke to Hanna Siemaszko, the producer of the SciLux podcast on science in Luxembourg, about deindustrialisation in Luxembourg, its comparison to processes in Eastern Germany and how Luxembourgish deindustrialisation was presented as a success story.

Want to find out more?
DePOT podcast: https://deindustrialization.org/podcast/?lang=fr
C²DH website: https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/projects/confronting-decline-challenges-deindustrialisation-western-societies-1970s
University of Luxembourg: https://wwwen.uni.lu
SciLux: https://scilux.buzzsprout.com/

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Since March 2020, the Warlux project at C²DH has been delving into the experiences and narratives of Luxembourg's 'forced recruits' and their families during the Second World War. The aim is to break with the traditional historiography surrounding the 'forced recruits' and to critically examine established narratives within the country's overarching historical discourse. Rather than treating these young men as a homogeneous group, the project explores the personal experiences of the soldiers, as well as the fates of their families during the war, utilizing a wide range of (new) sources and innovative digital methods.

C²DH historians Nina Janz and Sarah Maya Vercruysse, spoke to Hanna Siemaszko, the
producer of the SciLux podcast on science in Luxembourg, about their main findings, the difficulties they faced, and the digital tools they employed.

Want to find out more?
 
Warlux: https://warlux.uni.lu/home?language=en
C²DH website: https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/
University of Luxembourg: https://wwwen.uni.lu
SciLux: https://scilux.buzzsprout.com/

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The Minett Stories virtual exhibition explores the history and identity of the Minett, the industrial region in southern Luxembourg, in 21 stories. For a century (approx. 1870-1970) the Minett was shaped by iron ore mining and the iron and steel industry. Rapid economic and population growth, urbanisation and labour migration had a major impact on the history of the region, which has also been shaped by economic crises, environmental pollution and precarious housing and living conditions.

C²DH historians Viktoria Boretska and  Stefan Krebs and anthropologist Irene Portas Vázquez  spoke to Hanna Siemaszko, the producer of the SciLux podcast on science in Luxembourg, about the making of the stories  and the challenges of fictionalising history.

This podcast was recorded in connection with the 2022 Annual Report of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH), a University of Luxembourg research centre.

The exhibition is part of the Remixing Industrial Pasts in the Digital Age (“Remix”) project, in connection with the European Capital of Culture Esch2022.

Want to find out more?

Minett Stories - Remixing Industrial Pasts in the Digital Age: https://minett-stories.lu
C²DH website: https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/
SciLux: https://scilux.buzzsprout.com/

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For the C²DH, 2022 was a particularly fruitful and intense year for our ongoing research on Web archives: two year-long projects came to an end, one in partnership with the DataLab of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, entitled Buzz-F, and another with the Canadian Archives Unleashed team, AWAC2, which looked at Web archives related to the COVID-19 crisis. In autumn 2022, the final conference of the WARCnet project (2020-2023) was also held in Aarhus, Denmark. Finally, the HIVI project (A history of online virality) pursued its activities for the second consecutive year.

C²DH historian Valérie Schafer and Niels Brügger, a Professor in Media Studies and Head of the Centre for Internet Studies at Aarhus University in Denmark, spoke to Hanna Siemaszko, the producer of the SciLux podcast on science in Luxembourg, about the challenges of digging into Web archives and online virality.

This podcast was recorded in connection with the 2022 Annual Report of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH), a University of Luxembourg research centre.

Want to find out more?

Twitter challenge
C²DH: https://www.c2dh.uni.lu/
University of Luxembourg: https://wwwen.uni.lu/
SciLux: https://scilux.buzzsprout.com/

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