Anchorhold Afference

Kelsey Dufresne

1   introduction

As an anchoress, Julian of Norwich confined herself to a form of reality and existence that many cannot fully understand due to its harsh and regimented size, complete isolation, and ultimate sensory deprivation. To make her writings and realities as an anchoress more accessible to students, I created a virtual reality system modeled after Julian of Norwich’s anchorhold through utilizing Oculus and Unity gaming applications. These technologies inherently carry vast amounts of art, design, geometry, and physics, proving themselves to be reflective of an interdisciplinary experience and study - yet are not typically utilized in the English Literature classroom. Fascinatingly numerous parallels arose between VR creation, implementation, and utilization as the experience of the anchorhold, including the roles of barriers, isolation, sensory deprivation, and wear on the body. Thus, VR technology can allow us to perhaps discover and evaluate how the restriction of place and space are evident and relevant factors presented in her written works as well as help users to embody her own positionality.

2   why

The significance and impact of this research is multifaceted. Firstly, this research offers a concrete product that aligns literature from an understudied author, Julian of Norwich, with a tool for pedagogical implementation to help increase accessibility - in particular regards to her history, positionality, and the conditions in which she wrote in as an anchoress. Secondly, the product, a virtual reality system, draws a clear bridge between computational design and the art of the humanities, reaffirming the capacities and potentialities of digital humanities. Lastly, this research encapsulates the pedagogical advantages of technological novice-learning through critical making. In terms of subject focus, design, and methods - this research is a dynamic case study for innovative research, learning, making, and doing in the humanities. All the more - this research, and my learning alongside this work, only illuminates the furthering need for increased access and support for similar and better digital humanities opportunities and projects to further the development of our field and the different ways in which we teach and learn.

3   anchorhold afference

Anchorhold Afference

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4   pedagogy

Teaching and learning with Anchorhold Afference: The following activities, lessons, and extensions could be modified for any grade level or academic setting. The corresponding sections for implementation are suggestions.

grade school

Journey Box: According to Labbo and Field (1999), the goal of a Journey-Box is to take students on a journey through the artifacts; they must contextualize and collect data from the artifacts, while exploring their significance and meaning. Ask your students to imagine and/or create what they think Julian of Norwich’s journey box might be with accompanying justification and explanation.

Broadsides of Place: Broadsides were used historically to share poetry and the written word to the massages in public spaces. But what would a broadside of a place look and be like? Ask your students to identify a setting (fictional or real) and reimagine how they would represent it via a broadside. This could be accomplished with physical broadsides on paper with student/classroom materials or digitally with Smore or Canva. Both modes could then be shared with the entire class via a digital forum or gallery wall in the classroom.

A Letter to Julian: Because Julian did not write about her lived experience as an anchoress in her poetry - what might we ask her, if we could, to learn about what it was like? Invite your students to write a letter to Julian of Norwich as a writing warm up, exit ticket, or formative assessment.

secondary edu/college

Lesson on Authorial Presence and Place/Space: In reading passages from Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, ask your students to identify, trace, and analyze the role of place and space in small groups. After working with the text, ask the students to characterize the place and space. What is it like? How do you know? What evidence supports this? This could then lead to a full class discussion on what they found and discussed and/or class-wide communal research into the life of Julian of Norwich and other anchoresses.

Lesson on Phenomenology: At the start of a class, ask your students what our senses play in experiencing, reading, understanding the world around them. Ask your students to respond to pieces of art from a local art museum or cultural center (alternatively you can use images from the MET or MoMA). Do different pieces bring about different feelings or sensations? Why? In what ways? Why is this significant?

Digital Humanities + Critical Making: Use Anchorhold Afference as a case study or example of digital humanities and crtical making when encouraging your students to make their own experimental projects.

extension questions

What roles do place and space play in literature, printed media, history, and our identities?

How has place and space shaped you personally, as a reader and/or writer?

Where and in what ways might Julian’s historical context be evident in her writings?

What does it mean to study authorial history and biography through constructed or mediated space?

What role does access play in Julian’s writing and in her lived experience?

What is another space that you think might help others learn about a person, time, event, or issue?

What is something you could create to help others learn about your identity and positionality?

What are the limits of technology in our learning and in what we do?

  to learn more

Please visit Anchorhold Afference's GitHub Repository or the case study of this project for coding documentation, images, and additional materials.

Please contact me at kvdowns@ncsu.edu.




Kelsey Dufresne




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.