Working Lives Research Institute
John Kirk Memorial Steve Jefferys WLRI.doc
John Kirk memorial E Attila Aytekin Turkey.doc
John Kirk Memorial Sylvie Contrepois France.doc
John Kirk Memorial Kazimiera Wodz Poland.doc
John Kirk Memorial Juan Carlos Revilla Spain.doc
John Kirk Memorial Markus Promberger Germany.doc
• He was a wonderful colleague with really inspirational ideas and our academic community will be at a loss without him, especially all of us who shared the same ideals.
• I worked with John at WLRI and he was the best of colleagues. Intellectually very strong, socially committed, unbelievably modest and just a great person to spend time with.
• While working with John I discovered Raymond Williams' work and still have the image of John discussing it at the Lauf SPHERE meeting.
• I was allocated a desk next to John, which I was over the moon about. He was by far the warmest, smartest, most charming, friendly, lovely guy in WLRI. He used to call me 'bud', and always seemed genuinely interested in how you are. When I said something about moving into an office together he asked me: "I hope you won't be disturbed by my singing?"... I hesitated for a moment - I'd fallen for it!
• John was a lovely man and although we only really met at staff meetings I looked forward to meeting him when he was down. He was such an outstanding academic and had a wonderful way with words.
• He was clearly a very special person, combining great humanity and humour with depth and breadth of both practical and theoretical intelligence. I sat next to him once at a Christmas dinner and still recall the astonishing range of his conversation. We only really worked together once, when he did some interviews (interpreted with great insight) for the WORKS project. That again was a wholly positive experience and I realise now I had somewhere in the back of my mind the hope that it could be repeated in other projects – he was someone from whom I felt a lot could be learned.
• John was a great person always beavering away without pretence and with integrity. He was kind and supportive when I needed his support to face higher authorities. John will be missed by the many that dealt with him because he was a decent man.
• John was really unique. He represented a legacy of workers' education and radical scholarship that we now have to fight for.
• He really was a lovely colleague and I very much enjoyed the time that I worked with him on the seafarers’ project, and it was always nice to see him at work. It was good to hear from you that he enjoyed that project so much - even the drunken outings with fishermen! I had some interesting times too at Merchant Navy clubs that I'm sure John would have appreciated. He will be very much missed by us at WLRI, both personally and academically, and it was great to see that the university recognised his contribution with the professorship.
• I can picture him in my office now when we last met talking about Raymond Williams. He was a lovely man and a wonderful scholar, I am glad that he saw the book and I was pleased to hear about the Emeritus Chair - richly deserved.
• I am glad that I had the chance to meet such a lovable and bright person during our common research work. I am thinking of him as a great person.
• Since we met him three years ago, we have always felt him very close to us, it was always a pleasure to talk, discuss, and listen to him.
• We will always keep in mind good memories of our rich in ideas, stimulating conversations with John during the SPHERE seminars and discussions. For me and for my colleagues from Katowice team John was someone who beamed with warmth and openness.
• To me, he was one of the finest guys I’ve ever worked with. A brilliant writer, bringing together scientific thoughts and theory with an excellent sense for what people like miners and factory workers feel, think and experience in their everyday lives, and also an impressively thoughtful, modest, friendly and open minded man with whom I shared lots of thoughts and ideas, be it in common research or just having a beer and a good conversation together in any European city.
• I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to work with John over the last couple of years. Seeing him was always a joy. He was a breath of fresh air in the world - an intelligent, working class man who combined being an academic with the sharp edge he kept on his politics. He was a role model for me and meeting him has changed me, in a good way.
• I hadn't known John all that long - perhaps three years or so - via Northern College and that SPHERE project but we got along like a house on fire every time we met - because I suppose we shared so many experiences and beliefs.
• John was my tutor from 2001-2004. At the beginning of my final year I lost my best friend and fellow swot on the course, Paul, who John had a great affection for due to his eager mind, underdog status as (in Paul's own words) "a bullied puff from a pit village" and his spiky, infectious sense of humour. (I'm sure you recall all this yourself) He was brilliant through that time, one of the people to keep me going when I felt like packing it all in and I can speak for at least 10 other people on my course when I say that. We were after all, a motley crew of mature students from Barnsley with chips on our shoulders, no confidence in our ability and totally intimidated by the university system, so as you can imagine, he was one of "uz" and we were right up his street, so he took us all under his protective wing and made learning about the systems that had stiffed us all our lives both illuminating and easy, and for me, highly addictive.
Curriculum vitæJohn Anthony KIRKEmploymentJan 06-Nov 10 Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University: Senior Research Fellow, Emeritus ProfessorSept 00-Dec 05 Leeds University (Bretton Campus): Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies Sept 98-Sept 01 Manchester Metropolitan University: Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies Sept 96-July 01 Batley School of Art and Design: Lecturer in Media and Communication Sept 95-July 95 University of Wolverhampton: Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies Oct 73-Sept 88 After leaving school at 16 I undertook a range of jobs in industry, including textile worker, motor mechanic, fireman-stoker in the British Merchant Navy and HGV tyre-fitter Education1995-1996 University of Huddersfield: PGCE/FE Publications and research BooksChanging work and community identities in European regions: perspectives on past and present (edited by J.Kirk, S.Contrepois and S.Jefferys) (Palgrave MacMillan, 2012) Work and Identity (co-authored with Christine Wall, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) Twentieth Century Writing and the British Working Class (University of Wales Press, 2003) ISBN 0-7083-1813-4 (paperback edition, Winter 2009) Chapters in Books“Biography, Education and Civic Action: Teaching Generations and Social Change” in Theorising Identities and Social Action, ed M. Wetherell, (with J. Martin, and C. Wall) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) Refereed Journal Articles“Resilience and loss in work identities: a narrative analysis of some retired teachers’ work-life histories,” with C. Wall, British Education Research Journal 2009, 36(4) 627-643. Reviews and Review ArticlesBeverley Skeggs, Class, Self and Culture, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, March 2007 Work in Progress- Current researchApril 2008-September 2011: Principal Investigator for three year, six partner, European project: “Space, Place and the Historical and contemporary articulations of regional, national and European identities through work and community in areas undergoing economic REstructuring and regeneration (SPHERE)”
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