Civil Defense, 1960s style

I love looking at old material discussing how to survive during emergencies. Recently, I've been going through Civil Defense materials from the US in the 1950s and 1960s. A lot of it is based around nuclear fallout, but if you take the radiation poisoning issue away, looking at the materials can assist in showcasing what the culture at the time valued or understood. For example, the State Council of Civil Defense in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania released A Food Plan For Home Defense in 1952 that had a listing of the types of foods that should be included in an emergency food box.

Most of the items are pretty standard, but a few stand out...the Juices. All of the juices are high acid, not great for little children or infants, but they will prevent scurvy. The soups is another interesting section, because they focus on creamed soups that could be added to pasta or rice to thicken them. Cream of asparagus was also popular in the 1950s, although it has fallen out of favor for the general public nowadays. Likewise, I would have expected to see more pasta and rice items, but the guide focuses on canned goods, of which there were less canned noodle options at the time, although I was surprised to not see chicken noodle soup on the list.

For myself, living in an area prone to Hurricanes, the guide was a fun experiment to use as a cross-check with what my own family supplies in our pantry. There were sections where we exceeded, some we broke even on, and others that we had nothing. Part of the issue came down to frozen, dehydrated, or canned. Most of the missing items we did have in a deep freezer in the garage, but Juices, for example, were completely empty.

There was also the question of taste. We don't stock cream of mushroom soup, because some of the family don't like it. However, we have mushrooms and cream of chicken soup, which could be supplemented. Likewise, we have dried goods, such as beans, peas, rice, pasta, etc., which didn't make the 1952 list.

In all, these types of manuals or lists provide an interesting view into what the government thought society needed (and were used to eating/living like) at the time they were created. For myself, I would add more dark greens to the list, and if your household had young children or infants, their requirements would be different and should follow modern nutritional guidelines. 

Another item I found: Civil Defense for Schools, from the same organization/year, provides a list of First Aid items each family should have:

And the First Aid for a School:

For myself, the school one is interesting, because it's basically plasters, gauze, and sterilizing cleansers, while the family kit includes disinfectants, flushing agents, razors, flashlights, and purification tablets. I am uncertain if the difference is due to the higher potential for injury in a home setting versus the likelihood of a school being the local shelter as well or not. 

The other item to think about is the location the material is coming from. Pennsylvania is a north-eastern state, where snow and basements are common place. As such, the inclusion of blankets and water in the school box, verses bedsheets and bath towels in the home kit may be playing to the location's strengths. Regardless, the differences are interesting to think about.

I always had a medical kit in my classroom, though the items included were different. Plasters, bandages, antibiotic and allergen creams (individual packets), and personal care products for the girls, were always included, as were safety pins (more for clothing emergencies then medical), and blood stop/burn creams were also included. We weren't allowed to give out medications, such as pain killers, but I kept my own 'teachers' kit in my desk, just in case. The nurses' office had those items should students need them.

The liability and allergen issues of today compared to what was standard operating procedure in the 1950s makes me long for a day when teachers could actually manage student issues without the fear of being sued or fired for any little thing;; while these documents, and the stories they tell, offer insight into how policies and the public were expected to work together.

Starfleet Academy Sciences Degree Program

Starfleet requires the Sciences cadet to study at least two specializations. A number of specializations are accepted:

Real Life Hogwarts

So, you've got your acceptance letter in hand to start studying at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and you have the list of required textbooks for your required courses, but before we hit Diagon Alley, let's see what courses you will actually be taking, shall we?

Hogwarts Courses of Study

Year 1:

Transfiguration

Charms 

Potions 

History of Magic 

Defense Against the Dark Arts 

Astronomy
Herbology
Flying

Additional Courses Year 2:

Arithmancy 

Muggle Studies 

Divination 

Study of Ancient Runes 

Care of Magical Creatures 

Additional Courses Year 3:

Alchemy 

Of course, these are just the Departments. You still need to decide on the specific courses to take, baring in mind you must take a minimum of one class from each of them. Students who wish to take more than one course concurrently must speak to their House Leader as well as the Headmaster for approval. Certain classes have pre-requisites or are year specific. Let's see what our options are, shall we?

Ah, the joys of being a grad student

And apparently a part-time student counselor. *Sigh* So, I have officially received acceptance to the University of Reading for my PhD proposal and I have accepted the offer. I am now dealing with the bureaucracy of paperwork for yet another long-term visa.

However, I have been getting messages from other students (BA and MSc's) about UoR policies and asking advice for other schools...um, I'm not a counselor, why are you asking me?

So, here's a few notes, should anyone care...

• Typically a school will send you a total cost of admission offer which is the cost without scholarships, loans, or similar addition sources. If you qualify for a scholarship, that offer normally comes in a separate letter because the agency giving the scholarship isn't necessarily the school. Once you accept, then they normally discuss funding options.
• Uni. of Reading sent this type of letter first, then once you accept they send a total cost of attendance for year one, which shows additional fees, housing costs, visa information, etc. Once you got that, you can apply for loans and scholarships and after those are accepted, then a new form letter showing additional costs is sent out.

I'll keep a running tab on notes, but seriously, I don't work for the school I will not contact another school on your behalf or even this school. Why would someone even ask that? Wow.

University of Reading:

Enrollment: Thursday 19 - Monday 23 September 2019
Welcome Week: Monday 23 - Friday 27 September 2019
Term starts: Monday 30 September 2019

Media Literacy and Waste-Treatment in Africa

See the first article here: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/05/addis-ababa-reppie-trash-into-energy

Okay, a few questions/points here:

1) I had to go through a series of websites to find out how they were going to deal with the emissions. The answer I found was not satisfactory. According to the UN, "The plant adopts modern back-end flue gas treatment technology to drastically reduce the release of heavy metals and dioxins produced from the burning" (https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/ethiopias-waste-energy-plant-first-africa). From there I had to figure out what exactly 'back-end flue gas treatment' meant. Basically they apply a series of filters, scrubbers, and attractors to collect different chemicals including nitrogen oxides and sulfur (https://www.britannica.com/technology/flue-gas-treatment), which is good, but the website goes on to say, "technologies to remove mercury and carbon dioxide from flue gases have lagged, but there is growing interest in these areas". So, still no answer on the CO2 aspect.

Now, we have another problem in where that CO2 will be 'stored'. Is it getting shipped out into the atmosphere or into the ground? If into the ground, we have to be careful about access to water sources because we don't want another Lake Nyos in Cameroon (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/21/newsid_3380000/3380803.stm) and while Nyos wasn't supposedly a man-made situation, the potential is there.

2) The other part is the ash bricks. What about the heavy metals, chemicals, and pollutants left within them? There was no discussion as to how they were to be dealt with before processing. So, we have a material that is to be used for housing and buildings but has the potential for off-gassing and killing it's occupants. Fun. And if you think something like that can't happen, check out these articles (https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/07/nyregion/incinerator-ash-in-a-new-guise-building-blocks.html or https://friendsoftheearth.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/safety_incinerator_ash.pdf).

Now, that's not to say they can't be made safely, but there are certain requirements and additional costs which you can see here: (http://www.smartwaste.co.uk/filelibrary/Brick_Incinsewagesludgeash.pdf and https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0734242X17721343).

3) Who is funding this? Well the UN site says this at the very end of the article: "The project is the result of a partnership between the Government of Ethiopia and a consortium of international companies: Cambridge Industries Limited (Singapore), China National Electric Engineering and Ramboll, a Danish engineering firm. The consortium was established to design, construct and in some cases own waste-to-energy facilities customized for Sub-Saharan Africa. Reppie is the first of what the consortium hopes will be a series of such facilities in major cities across the region". So, China, Denmark, and Singapore are building and potentially owning these facilities that will reduce hard waste, but will contribute to pumping out massive CO2 and other GHG chemicals into the atmosphere. China is already jumping in to try and establish rights within Africa and now we have this (https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-africa):

"Through significant investment in a continent known for political and security risks, China has boosted African oil and mining sectors in exchange for advantageous trade deals. Chinese companies are also diversifying their business pursuits in Africa, in infrastructure, manufacturing, telecommunications, and agricultural sectors. However, China’s activity in Africa has faced criticism from Western and African civil society over its controversial business practices, as well as its failure to promote good governance and human rights."

My question is why? Why are we ignoring a huge amount of people, land, and potentialities and allowing/encouraging Chinese involvement?

Also, this is my field: agriculture, rural development, wastewater treatment, and sustainability. I am also a researcher, as in, I am very good at researching. Checking this video took me to half a dozen different sources and the innate knowledge the last two-years of formalized education in these fields to put together. How is the general public, who is neither knowledgeable, nor interested enough to check, supposed to find these things out? Media Literacy is an art and a science and anymore, I find very few people have the skills or interest to spend an extra hour doing this for every post and news article.

PhD Proposal: Influences of women on the agricultural sector and rural communities from the interwar period through 1950 in England.

Title:

Influences of women on the agricultural sector and rural communities from the interwar period through 1950 in England.

Background:

Gender identity roles within rural farm laborers changed drastically during the first and second World Wars in Great Britain. With men called upon for the war effort during the First World War, women were recruited to assist in the new Land Army and leave their homes to work within the male-dominated agricultural sphere (Goodman and Mathieson, 2014).  Their competency and tenacity assisted in changing the view of a woman’s place and capacity throughout the nation, including spurring on the newly created suffragette movement which gave a voice to nearly half the population leading to Votes for Women! finally being secured (Riddell, 2018). While many women returned home following the war, others continued their volunteer work in the new Women’s Institute (WI) (1915), the British Red Cross, and the YMCA National Women’s Auxiliaries (The Women’s Institute, n.d.). As the threat of a second war loomed, enrollment increased in these and other organizations, including the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) (1938) and the associated Women’s Voluntary Services (WVS) (Storey and Housego, 2018) . The WVS and WI were instrumental in assisting with the Dig for Victory campaign, the Women’s Land Army, and the national fruit preservation scheme; all three of which were tied to the creation and preservation of food for the nation (Kramer, 2008; Powell and Westacott, 1997; Storey and Housego, 2018).  

At the start of the Second World War, nearly seventeen thousand women volunteered to ‘work the land’ as part of the WLA, with eighty thousand active members at its peak in 1943(Storey and Housego, 2018). Inclusion of additional women onto farms and into the rural communities had a variety of results including the creation of agricultural colleges, regional specialist trainings, the establishment of equal pay regulations for female farm laborers, and established weekends, holidays, and sick leave (Ambrose and Jensen, 2017). Women took on a variety of roles within agriculture, from working in the Timber Corp to running poultry farms, to working in agricultural gangs (Geere, 1987). However, they did so from both urban and rural environments. Smaller homesteaders were not always registered as agricultural holdings, yet this did not dissuade women from managing smaller holdings to assist with urban and suburban farming (Ball, 1989). It also brought women out of the cities and into the countryside and affected the rates of marriage, child birth, and divorce (Perry, 1968). These changes in population, with a baby boom following the war years both in 1921 (~357,000 males and 385, 000 females aged 3-4) and in 1951 (~430,000 males aged 3-4; ~409,000 females aged 3-4) (Neilan, 2014), coincided with increased marriage rates at the start and end of the war, followed by an increase in divorce and adoption rates at the end of the war (Office of National Statistics, 2015). Some of these can be attributed to new legislation, but others show a trend in the separation of family finances and the ability for women to manage on their own away from a husband’s watchful eye (Perry, 1968).

Objectives and Research Questions:

While women have always held a role in agriculture they were often placed into the role of ‘farmer’s wife’ or ‘farmer’s daughter,’ not simply ‘farmer’ (Ball, 1989; Sachs, 1983). Changing attitudes of today can be traced back to the various Land Armies and Friendly Societies of the World Wars and while women own and operate both small and large scale farms, are active in every level of the supply chain, and develop agricultural policies, current views of femininity and women’s roles in society seems to be making a paradigm shift across the world (Ambrose and Jensen, 2017). However, current literature focuses on the relationship between fertility rates and women’s employment (Engelhardt et al., 2004; Joshi and Hinde, 1991), the changes in agricultural education (Brook, 2011), women’s underrepresentation within census data (Higgs and Wilkinson, 2016), feminism and legislative reform (Lewis, 1985), and the state of agriculture and spheres of women’s influence (Anderson, 2014; Fairbanks and Haakenson, 2017; Whatmore, 1991). While focused on the microspheres these questions entail, few broad-spectrum approaches take into account how women’s influences on farms and in the rural community change the very foundation of basic family lifestyles, such as food choices, migratory patterns, changes in voluntary service work, agricultural supply chains, and changes in family dynamics. Considering these aspects, this research is a timely analysis of the role women play, both in the public and private spheres of agriculture and rural communities.

It is this broader view that we will focus on including the following questions:

• Did the addition of women onto farms (during /after WW1&2) beget a reversal of two centuries worth of migration leading to the growth of rural villages and towns?
• Did the relationship between working women change the dynamic for the modern family unit?
• Did women’s farming activities create a ‘new norm’ when discussing women’s capabilities?
• Did the inclusion of women onto farms change the management or practices of farms beyond the technological changes of the time period?
• Did the technical training of women for farm work create, assist, or alter women’s entry into the supply chain?
• Did women’s roles during/after WW1&2 alter the food choices of the nation?

Methodology and Planning:

This research hopes to answer the knowledge gap of how women have influenced the agricultural sphere within the context of rural community. It dovetails with the concepts of rural identity and femininity and is intended to employ archaeological and landscape techniques and utilize the insights derived from quantitative history, and modern literary and gender studies within the lens of the agricultural landscape.

Initial investigation will include a thorough literature review of the data available to date. Following such an investigation, interviews will be used in conjunction with material from autobiographies, contemporary social surveys, farm record books, commentaries by social investigators, census data, and diaries (Strange, 1999) as both primary and secondary source materials. Additional research will be carried out at the History of Food and Drink in the Institute of Historical Research Library at the University of London and the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) in Reading.

Planning will follow the University of Readings’ (UoR) anticipated format of initial inquiry during year one, research and review in year two, and final paper creation in year three. The final output will include a course curriculum design along with the paper. The design will be structured upon the Universities’ eleven week semester and will follow a four-four-three pattern focusing on Women and Rural English Identity in section one, Women and Rural Development in section two, and a localized assessment project in section three. The goal of creating a curriculum is two-fold, firstly, it acts as an outline to the paper and secondly it becomes a usable product for the University at the end of the research.

Sample Course Design (initial thoughts):

·         Section 1: Women and Rural English Identity

a.       What does Rural Identity mean?

b.      Historical context of rural women’s roles:

                                                              i.      Peasant

1.      Farm Laborer

2.      Servant

                                                            ii.      Crofter

1.      Supplier

2.      Tenant

                                                          iii.      Middle class

1.      Landlord

                                                          iv.      Upper Class

1.      Aristocracy

c.       The interwar period:

                                                              i.      Identification of women’s roles in rural communities.

1.      Agriculture

2.      Service and good will

3.      Home and family

4.      Incorporated Land Girls

a.       Public relationships and perspectives

d.      World War Two:

                                                              i.      Identification of women’s roles in rural communities.

1.      Agriculture

2.      Service and good will

3.      Home and family

4.      Incorporated Land Girls

a.       Public relationships and perspectives

e.       Post-War period:

                                                              i.      Identification of women’s roles in rural communities.

1.      Agriculture

2.      Service and good will

3.      Home and family

4.      Incorporated Land Girls

a.       Public relationships and perspectives

·         Section 2: Women and Rural Development

a.       Influences on modern agriculture

                                                              i.      Gender Identity: what it means to be a Female Farmer

                                                            ii.      Agricultural Research

                                                          iii.      Supply-chain management

1.      Food selection, nutrition, and cookery

2.      Suppliers, owner/operators, and transportation

                                                          iv.      Policy development

b.      Family structure

                                                              i.      Marriage, Divorce, and Family Units

                                                            ii.      Migratory Patterns

·         Section 3: Localized Assessment Project

a.       Selection of region:

                                                              i.      Explanation of region’s rural identity

                                                            ii.      Historical context of women’s roles in region

                                                          iii.      Women’s roles in agriculture in region

                                                          iv.      Changing values or perceptions

Results/Discussion:

Census and population data from the Office of National Statistics and farm record books from the MERL will be the core of the migration research, while interviews and diary entries will show how women viewed themselves and how men viewed the women working in the sector. From here I anticipate seeing overlap within the two genders’ opinions followed by acceptance in parts of the industry (those aspects relating to home making such as cooking) and fervent dismissal/denial of other aspects (ownership, trade agreements, and policy development are my initial thoughts). Additional research will take the view of changes in agricultural practices, women’s entry and ownership aspects within the supply chain, and alterations to the family unit and rural identity.

Conclusions:

The primary goal of this research is to establish what, if any, role women had in changing the course of agriculture and how they affected the rural communities they were associated with. From here, further research could look at comparisons with modern roles women play or look at trends for women’s roles in developing nations.

Initial Bibliography:

Ambrose, L.M., Jensen, J.M., 2017. Women in Agriculture. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.

Anderson, H.M.K., 2014. The British Women ’s Land Army: Gender, Identity, and Landscapes. Western Michigan University.

Ball, J., 1989. Little Girls don’t grow up to be farmers. Peter I. Drinkwater, Warwickshire.

Brook, L.E., 2011. From farming to farm holidays : the evolution of agricultural education and the specialist colleges in the UK Lesley Elisabeth Brook Institute of Education.

Engelhardt, H., Kogel, T., Prskawetz, A., 2004. Fertility and female employment reconsidered: a macro-level time series analysis. Popul. Stud. (NY). 58, 109–120.

Fairbanks, C., Haakenson, B., 2017. Writings of Farm Women, 1840-1940. Routledge Library Editions: Rural History, London.

Geere, M., 1987. Reminiscences of a Land Girl in Witham. Albert Poulter, Essex.

Goodman, G., Mathieson, C. (Eds.), 2014. Gender and Space in Rural Britain, 1840-1920. Pickering & Chatto, London.

Higgs, E., Wilkinson, A., 2016. Women, Occupations and Work in the Victorian Censuses Revisited. Hist. Work. J. 81, 17–38. https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbw001

Joshi, H., Hinde, P.R.A., 1991. Employment after child bearing in post-war Britain: Cohort study evidence on contrasts within and across generations (No. 35). London.

Kramer, A., 2008. Land Girls and Their Impact. Remember When, Norfolk.

Lewis, J., 1985. Women and Society: Continuity and Change since 1870. Refresh 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.1986.tb00768.x

Neilan, C., 2014. Four charts that show the impact the First and Second World Wars had on the UK’s population [WWW Document]. CITYA.M. URL http://www.cityam.com/1415708792/four-charts-show-impact-first-and-second-world-wars-had-uks-population (accessed 5.21.19).

Office of National Statistics, 2015. Victory in Europe Day: How World War II changed the UK [WWW Document]. URL https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/articles/victoryineuropedayhowworldwariichangedtheuk/2015-05-08 (accessed 5.21.19).

Perry, P.J., 1968. Working-Class Isolation and Mobility in Rural Dorset, 1837-1936: a Study of Marriage Distances.

Powell, B., Westacott, N., 1997. The Women’s Land Army. Sutton Publishing Limited, Gloucestershire.

Riddell, F., 2018. Suffragettes, violence and militancy [WWW Document]. Votes for Women. URL https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/suffragettes-violence-and-militancy (accessed 5.28.19).

Sachs, C.E., 1983. The Invisible Farmers: Women in Agricultural Production, 1st ed. Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc, Totowa.

Storey, N.R., Housego, M., 2018. Women in the Second World War. Shire Publications, Oxford.

Strange, D., 1999. A Land Girl’s Diary: Burnham 1948.

The Women’s Institute, n.d. The Women’s Institute [WWW Document]. FAQs. URL https://www.thewi.org.uk/faqs (accessed 5.28.19).

Whatmore, S.J., 1991. Farming Women: Gender, Work and Family Enterprise. Springer, Hampshire.