Thank you for following Uncanny Landscapes. Here’s a new episode of the podcast; an interview with historian Katrina Navickas. Thank you to our paid subscribers for your support, and to our regular listeners for making this so worthwhile.
The podcast (and all back ‘issues’) are also available at:
https://uncannylandscapes.podbean.com/
… and on most podcast platforms. As always, books, records and events ‘n’at here: https://linktr.ee/oldweirdalbion
Links:
Katrina Navickas’ website
Contested Commons at Reaktion Books
Katrina at U of Hertfordshire
To Dispel a Great Malady essay
Laura Cannell - Medieval Drone Society
Laura Cannell on Instagram
Katrina Navickas is a historian of protest, social and political movements, covering modern Britain from the 18th to the 21st centuries, and the author of several books and chapters covering protest and street movements, commons and enclosures, rural modernism and a slew of interesting stuff - for example, the history of bins. Her latest book is Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space from Reaktion Books, and is a must-read for those interested in England’s weird relationship with landscape.
In this, the third in a mini-arc of very loosely related interviews about notions of ‘public space’ in Britain, Katrina takes us back to the start and look at the history of ‘commons’ land and enclosure, and how it relates to street protest and battles over public land right up through today. Go back and listen to the other two related installments, interviews with Morag Rose and Leah Gordon, in any order you like, and you’ll get a really interesting picture of the ways in which artists and writers are approaching these questions today.
I cannot recommend Contested Commons enough - it’s a history that will inform anyone interested in placemaking, public space, protest and social movements; all the good stuff. While nobody asked me, I’d like to point out: I’d love the graphic novel version; maybe Clifford Harper could illustrate.
Once again, the music this week is from Laura Cannell’s lates album, The Medieval Drone Society - check it out through the bandcamp link above.
If you’ve read this far, you must really dig the UL podcast, so why not share it on your socials and such? People like Katrina, Leah, Morag and Natalie - all interviewed in season 3 / 2026 thus far, really deserve to be heard. Thanks.
