Dawn Llewellyn

My guest this week is Dawn Llewellyn, Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies at the University of Chester, who I first met nearly a decade ago when Dawn had just completed her PhD. We learn that Dawn’s father is a professional golfer and her mother is a retired nurse, and we discuss the vocational dimension to our respective jobs in academia.

Dawn talks about the importance in her life of Open Water Swimming which has led her to swimming the English Channel. We talk about the importance of having a counterpoint to our ‘day jobs’, and the different forms that they can take, and the importance of community. For example, Dawn talks about how her PhD studied the way women use literature to reinforce their sense of self and of forming communities and how a book can be a friend.

We learn that golf dominated Dawn’s childhood and that the first gig she went to see was New Kids on the Block and that her first album was by the Beautiful South. We also find out about Dawn’s Bucks Fizz confession, why she used to think that there were two Cliff Richards, and why she will always cry at a live gig, leading to a discussion around the tinge of pain involved in nostalgia.

Dawn reveals how she ended up in academia and how going to Canada was for her foundational, and she recalls her first feminist theology class and why she wanted to study Christianity through a feminist lens. She talks about the importance of taking time out before her PhD, and about the skills she learned from teaching English as a foreign language.

We then move on to talk about how we navigate the passage of time and whether we recognize ourselves from photos and we learn why Dawn doesn’t hold on to sad memories, why she likes reminiscing, and we talk about whether it is possible to be nostalgic about negative experiences. Dawn also discusses why memories can be anxiety inducing and we learn why her 15 year old self would be surprised to find out what she is doing now.

Then, in the final part of the interview Dawn talks about how she finds that Facebook enables us to catch up with old friends and how it can bring stability to those friendships, before revealing whether she is a looking back or a looking forward kind of person.

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