Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, has just released a new episode of his podcast series on ‘Nostalgia’.
In the latest instalment, Chris interviews Dr Anthony Manning, Dean of Internationalisation at the University of Kent. In the interview, Anthony talks about his experience of growing up in a large family, but in a small town on the Isle of Man where his relatives ran a joke shop. We discuss the sense of community, based on old-fashioned values, which the shop elicited, and how its recent closure has resulted in a flood of nostalgia that he is considering channelling in new ways.
Anthony also talks about the culture shock of leaving the island in order to go to university in England, prompting a reflection on the nature of home and belonging, and we learn whether Anthony feels an attachment to any particular place. The concept of ‘neo-native Manx speakers’ is introduced, and Anthony discusses the benefits, based on personal experience, of understanding other people’s languages and cultures. Anthony grew up on an island with 80,000 people that had just one cinema.
We find out why he was into The Cure and The Smiths when he was at university, and also we hear about some of the challenges involved in ‘fitting in’. We discuss the grunge dimension of university in the early 1990s, and what led Anthony to protest marches during his undergraduate studies.
Finally, Anthony discusses why he doesn’t look back on the past with regrets, but has an urge to capture everything photographically, and we consider how and why photos are able to bring back more memories than we would otherwise be able to retain.
The podcast is available here:
https://audioboom.com/posts/6972868-anthony-manning