Francis Stewart

My guest this week is Francis Stewart, Implicit Religion Research Fellow at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln. Francis was born just outside Belfast and we learn how she had to leave Northern Ireland in order to study World Religions. She moved to Scarborough where Theology and Religious Studies were taught at different campuses, and we discover the reason why she and her fellow students didn’t want to graduate at York Cathedral.

Francis explains that she was drawn to Implicit Religion because of the fluid boundaries involved, and she talks about how in her research she has looked at how this is navigated via punk rock. Francis has written a wonderful book on this subject, called ‘Punk Rock is My Religion’, and in our interview she talks about her working class punk identity and considers the question of what she would consider to constitute ‘home’ and how her family have not always understood what ‘straight edge punk’ is.

Francis’ earliest memories involve a record player and a fireplace and her grandmother singing along to Boney M, as well as the ‘ring of steel’ in Belfast and the blockade where one would be searched. We discuss what it was like to grow up in this environment, and about how religion is used as a political tool in Northern Ireland, and how when she moved to England she was still in the mindset of being searched in, e.g., shopping centres. Francis grew up below the poverty line but had an enjoyable childhood, albeit against the backdrop of bomb scares.

Musically, Francis remembers the original vinyl of ‘War of the Worlds’ and remembers how she would jump up and down in her cot to Status Quo. She and her siblings would (literally) outplay each other’s music, and we learn that it was through John Peel that she originally got into punk music. We discuss the jingles that appeared in 1980s cartoons and how she remembers ‘Live Aid’ from when it was reported on ‘John Craven’s Newsround’.

We learn how Francis entered academia and that she was the first person in her family and the estate where she lived to go to university, and how she didn’t know what a PhD was when she was first recommended to do one. She ended up studying under Andrew Hass (a former Nostalgia interviewee) in Stirling.

Francis can remember the miners’ strike of the mid-1980s but reflects on how there was a lack of political engagement when she studied at university in the late 1990s. We talk about how more engaged students are now than they were in the past and the way activism has evolved over the years, and the conversation turns to the use of religion in superhero films.

In the final part of the interview we learn that Francis’ memories are generally positive and that she is by nature an optimistic person. We discuss how people can find meaning in trauma and Francis wonders what would have happened if she had become a tattoo artist as she had once wanted to be. We find out what would have happened if Francis had been told at the age of 15 where she would be now and we discuss how Facebook tends to reconstruct the definition of friendships. Finally, we learn whether Francis is a looking back or a looking forward type of person and whether we do really need nostalgia.

Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Francis Stewart and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.