Novel readings: The history of a writing community by a partial, prejudiced, & ignorant Historian

Abstract

In this article, I explore the history of a higher education writing community from its establishment in 2005 to the present day. In order to provide a model of community development which may be generalizable, this inherently ‘partial’ and ‘prejudiced’ autoenthnographic account is framed by themes taken from three of the novels of Jane Austen (1775–1817) which mirror the transitions in the community’s development. These transitions, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Sense and Sensibility’ and ‘Persuasion’, enhance an existing three-phase model of research group impact which comprised ‘Awareness’, ‘Exploring wider effects’ and ‘Adaptation and extension’ by articulating the social and cultural means through which we evolved from one phase to the next. My reflections lead me to make three recommendations for community survival. These are to create alliances with external researchers, to balance collegiality and strategic research endeavour, and to recruit and nurture doctoral students.