Alaric Hall

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Elves in Anglo-Saxon England (2007)

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Alaric Hall (born 1979) is a British philologist who is an associate professor of English and former director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. He has, since 2009, been the editor of the academic journal Leeds Studies in English and its successor Leeds Medieval Studies.Hall, Alaric, "[http://digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/id/eprint/12227 Editorial Preface]", Leeds Studies in English, n. s. 40 (2009), [iii].Hall, Alaric, "[http://digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/26324/ Editorial Note]", Leeds Studies in English, n. s. 49 (2018), [iii].

Biography

Hall received his B.A. in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic from the University of Cambridge, his M.Phil. in Medieval Studies from the University of Glasgow, and his Ph.D. in English from the University of Glasgow. His Ph.D. thesis was on elves in Anglo-Saxon England.{{cite web |url=https://www.alarichall.org.uk/cv.php |title=Alaric's CV |publisher=Alaric Hall |access-date=4 January 2021}}

He then became an associate professor of English and director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. Hall researches and teaches the languages, cultures and history of Northwest Europe in the Middle Ages. He has written and edited several works on these subjects. Hall has written on Icelandic language and literature.{{cite web |url=https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/60/dr-alaric-hall |title=Dr Alaric Hall |publisher=University of Leeds |access-date=4 January 2021}}

His 2007 book Elves in Anglo-Saxon England received positive academic reviews. The medievalist and Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey described the work as an "exceptionally thorough study", while the Tolkien scholar Dimitra Fimi called it a "solidly scholarly work, with meticulous discussion of philological matters, and also an open-minded (although strictly evidence-based) attempt to look at the bigger picture."{{Cite journal |last=Shippey |first=Tom A. |author-link=Tom Shippey |date=2008 |title=Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=CXXIII |issue=502 |pages=694–695 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cen116 |issn=0013-8266}}{{Cite journal |last=Jolly |first=Karen |date=2008 |title=Alaric Hall, Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity |journal=Anglia |volume=126 |issue=3 |pages=537–540 |doi=10.1515/angl.2008.072 |s2cid=143497138 |issn=0340-5222}}{{Cite journal |last=Fimi |first=Dimitra |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |date=2008 |title=Review of Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity |journal=Folklore |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=349–351 |doi=10.1080/00155870802352301 |issn=0015-587X |jstor=40646474|s2cid=216643328 }}

Politics

Hall is an environmental campaigner, and since 2018 has regularly stood for election to Leeds City Council for the Green Party of England and Wales.'[https://web.archive.org/web/20180512220833/http://www.southleedslife.com/elections-2018/hunslet-riverside-ward/ Hunslet & Riverside Ward]', South Leeds Life ([May] 2018).'[https://web.archive.org/web/20190417024131/https://southleedslife.com/elections-2019/beeston-holbeck-ward-2/ Beeston & Holbeck Ward]', South Leeds Life ([April] 2019).Beecham, Richard, '[https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/politics/full-list-of-leeds-local-election-candidates-3194085 Full List of Leeds Local Election Candidates]', The Yorkshire Evening Post (8 April 2021). For most of the 2010s he was a resident of the Leeds eco-building Greenhouse and was active in community organising in the local area of Beeston and Holbeck.Lonsdale, Sarah, '[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/green/10703129/Eco-living-we-need-more-energy-efficient-homes.html Eco Living: We Need More Energy-efficient Homes]', The Daily Telegraph (19 March 2014).Lonsdale, Sarah, '[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/10665510/A-more-eco-friendly-way-of-life.html A More Eco-Friendly Way of Life]', The Sunday Telegraph (27 February 2014), supplement: lifestyle, p. 13.Alaric Hall, '[https://southleedslife.com/looking-forward-to-2019-with-st-lukes-tenants-and-residents/ Looking forward to 2019 with St Luke’s Tenants and Residents]', South Leeds Life (3 January 2019).{{Cite web |last=McCormick |first=Sebastian |date=2022-04-07 |title=All the candidates and parties standing for election in Leeds |url=https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/candidates-parties-standing-election-your-23617073 |access-date=2022-04-11 |website=LeedsLive |language=en}} His activities included campaigning in relation to the United Kingdom cladding crisis.Carlisle, Ed, '[https://southleedslife.com/cladding-the-nightmare-continues/ Cladding: The Nightmare Continues]', South Leeds Life (25 February 2021).

Within academia, Hall supports open-access publishing and has made his own research freely available online.The University of Nottingham, '[https://rdmc.nottingham.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/internal/287/Archaeology_final/open_access_and_creative_commons.html Open Access and Creative Commons]' (2012). Correspondingly, he edits Wikipedia, and incorporates editing into his teaching and research at the University of Leeds.'[https://leedsunilibrary.wordpress.com/2018/09/14/rdmengage-project-update-local-before-global/ RDMengage Project Update: Local Before Global]' (14 September 2018).Hall, Alaric, '[https://www.publicmedievalist.com/change-history/ How to Change (Medieval) History]', The Public Medievalist (7 February 2019).Sheppard, Nick, "[https://infolit.org.uk/wikimedia-in-universities-an-untapped-potential/ Wikimedia in Universities: An Untapped Potential]", Wikimedia: Information Literacy Group (9 December 2019). He is a member of the University and College Union, campaigning during the 2013 and 2018–2020 UK higher education strikes.Stevens, Robert, '[https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/11/02/univ-n02.html UK Lecturers and Academic Staff Stage One-day National Strike]', World Socialist Web Site (2 November 2013).Leeds Green Party, '[https://leeds.greenparty.org.uk/news/the-green-party-supports-university-staff-in-their-strike-to-protect-pensions-in-leeds.html The Green Party Supports University Staff in their Strike to Protect Pensions in Leeds]' (22 February 2018).Sherratt, Madeline, '[https://thepostit.co.uk/2019/11/28/we-rally-with-you-why-the-university-strikes-are-a-force-of-good/ We Rally With You: Why the University Strikes are a Force of Good]', The Postit (28 November 2019).

Select bibliography

Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity, 2007
Interfaces Between Language and Culture in Medieval England, 2010
Útrásarvíkingar: The Literature of the Icelandic Financial Crisis (2008–2014), 2020