It wil take some time to reflect on the riches presented to us in the course of the workshop; I am struck by the consistency of approach: the need to contextualise science learning and to see science within culture, or in this case cultures. This goes alongside the desire to find the personal engagement with the period of the Middle Ages, the figure of Grosseteste and the world he invokes. At the same time, the seriousness with which the period can and should be approached was also heartwarming, from a medievalists point of view. Not that the period wasn’t joyful and playful as well :), but it is a period all too easily ignored, or navigated around as an age of faith or of superstition, which in turn makes some of its practitioners and modern-day exponents a little too defensive about the achievements and breath-taking vision and imagination of medieval thinkers. We ended the workshop with a meal at Blackfriars Restaurant, in Newcastle, with whom the Durham Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies has been collaborating for some time on medieval food recipes and presentation (see our sister blog: eatmedieval.wordpress.com). I could think of no better way to summarise what the project is inspired by and the interdisciplinary, multi-sensory approaches we can deploy to walk with the past.
With thanks to all of the participants.
Giles
p.s. Now let us know what you think!