‘That day, on the picket line, I had become aware of the conceptual space of ‘university’ as contested as if for the first time. What was the space we now stood outside of? What was it we were fighting for? We talked of what a university might be. What if it could be free again? What if anyone could go, regardless of prior qualifications? What if students could move freely between disciplines, study for as long or as short as they wanted? What if there were no grades, no awards? What if the purpose of learning was learning and life?’ In a new post for the Longbarrow Blog, artist and writer Emma Bolland reflects on the recent UCU strike, editing the Dostoyevsky Wannabe Cities: Sheffield anthology, and the ‘transformative spaces’ of pub and picket line. Click here to read ‘On Cities, Solidarity, Loss, and Hope’.

‘There are many reasons to…