The St. Magnus Street Tapes

Jonathan Church
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A reflection of 40 years of intermittent ethnographic research on the Shetland Islands.  This is an experiment in intimate ethnography. Each episode of the "A-sides" follows a single theme. The same theme is explored on the "B-sides" but through contemporary fiction based on a tale found in Lawrence Tulloch's Shetland Folk Tales.

Episodes

  1. 01/24/2025

    Episode 10 B-Side: Community

    This is the final episode of season one of The St. Magnus Street Tapes This palm of the hand story is loosely based on material found in Lawrence Tulloch’s Shetland Folk Tales, especially the enigmatic tale, “The Poisoned Six-Pence.” Episode 10  is the B-side of the more ethnographic reflection of the A-side of episode 5 on the theme of community. The content is rather explicit and includes descriptions of domestic and sexual abuse. For our UK audience seeking help regarding sexual assault or domestic abuse, there is the 24-hour freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run by Refuge, on 0808 2000 247. Our US listeners can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 18007997233. For our Shetland listeners, more information is available for safeguarding children, young people, and adults in Shetland at Safer Shetland. Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    23 min

  2. 12/24/2024

    Episode 9 B-Side: Memory

    This is the penultimate episode of the first season of The St. Magnus Street Tapes. "The body was found in the Old Cemetery in Lerwick by two young German tourists who were wandering around the Knab, just a bit turned around in the fog. They had wandered into the triangular piece of ground and read the headstones, many hard to decipher from the lichen. One of them remarked that reading old headstones gave them more confidence in the future. So many of the stones with names of those buried in the 18th and 19th century listed young children, so many children younger than 5, that they could believe the world was better now than before." This palm of the hand story is loosely based on material found in Lawrence Tulloch’s Shetland Folk Tales, especially the tale “The Fiddler and The Cows.”  Details about Kirstie Caddel’s life have been amended and  fictionalized from the account presented by Stephen Jennings from his 2019 Halloween talk given at the Archeology of Shetland Annual General Meeting, “The Many Ways to Die in Shetland.” The full text can be found on the Archeology of Shetland website. Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    33 min

  3. 11/10/2024

    Episode 8 - B-Side: Loss

    "There was both panic and resignation in his voice. He was so alone, and had been for what seemed like a long time, for twenty years tramping from one continent to another, looking for knolls, and only finding the standing stones of stories and folktales. The only hint of wonder he found in all of Shetland was in the small village of Brettafield, but he didn’t know why, and couldn’t find a point of crossing. His sojourn was almost over. After this he would return to Aotearoa. He had found friends and common cause among the patupaiarehe. Together, they would watch their worlds slowly fade." After 40 years of intermittent ethnographic research on the Shetland Islands, this podcast is an experiment in intimate ethnographic storytelling. Each episode of the "A-sides" follows a single theme. The same theme is explored in the "B-sides" episode but through contemporary fiction based on a mixture of themes and characters based on tales found in Lawrence Tulloch's Shetland Folk Tales This B-side episode explores the theme of disguise explored in episode 3 of The St. Magnus Street Tapes. This palm of the hand story is loosely based on material found in Lawrence Tulloch’s Shetland Folk Tales, especially the two tales “Midwife to the Trow” and “Kidnapped by the Trows.” This series has been made possible by the generous support of Arcadia University, especially FRANK AND EVELYN STEINBRUCKER Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    18 min

  4. 10/01/2024

    Episode 7 - B-Side: Disguise

    "When They had recovered enough. The bruises on their face healed. Their hair no longer silver, but a gray shade of blue, they traveled to Lerwick in his old Toyota Hillux. When he stopped them from filching in stores with a gentle “Dey ken me here.” They were too quick of hand to be caught, but he had caught them regardless. Sirena had a sense that he had been around more than they thought. His was a kind of disguise too, the irascible crofter, boiler suit, wellies, and Fair Isle jumpers. Rasmie of Breegarshoull was in his way a shapeshifter." After 40 years of intermittent ethnographic research on the Shetland Islands, this podcast is an experiment in intimate ethnographic storytelling. Each episode of the "A-sides" follows a single theme. The same theme is explored in the "B-sides" episode but through contemporary fiction based on a mixture of themes and characters based on tales found in Lawrence Tulloch's Shetland Folk Tales This B-side episode explores the theme of disguise explored in episode 2 of The St. Magnus Street Tapes. This palm of the hand story is loosely based on material found in Lawrence Tulloch’s Shetland Folk Tales, especially the two tales “Ursula” and “The Netted Mermaid.”  This series has been made possible by the generous support of Arcadia University, especially FRANK AND EVELYN STEINBRUCKER Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    25 min

  5. 08/23/2024

    Episode 6 - B-Side: Energy

    After 40 years of intermittent ethnographic research on the Shetland Islands, this podcast is an experiment in intimate ethnographic storytelling. Each episode of the "A-sides" follows a single theme. The same theme is explored in the "B-sides" episode but through contemporary fiction based on a mixture of themes and characters based on tales found in Lawrence Tulloch's Shetland Folk Tales This episode explores the theme of energy explored in episode 1 of The St. Magnus Street Tapes. This palm of the hand story is loosely based on material found in Lawrence Tulloch’s Shetland Folk Tales, especially the two tales “The Fetlar Finnman” and “The Blacksmith and the Njuggel.”   This series has been made possible by the generous support of Arcadia University, especially FRANK AND EVELYN STEINBRUCKER Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    15 min

  6. 05/06/2024

    Episode 5 - A-Side: Community

    When I was being trained, if you can call it that, as an anthropologist years ago, there was a focus on kinship and family, however, constructed, because, in these relations, it was imagined, were conjured obligations of gift-giving, aid, and favors, what were called forms of reciprocity. From these networks of kin and reciprocity threads of trust were spun and extended, models for a spiderweb of relationship, of bonding and bridging capital, out of which community was made - a rosy picture. Over the past half-century, anthropology has now a darker view, Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    22 min

  7. 04/19/2024

    Episode 4 - A-Side: Memory

    This episode explores memory and confabulation. We gather each other up in forms of recollection and retrospection, finding a place for each other in collective remembrances. Sometimes we argue over the details, but less so the genre of the story. No, the genre is usually clear and seems to me most often a way of forgetting that it could have been otherwise. The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. Special thanks to the Pixabay community member Onoychenkomusic, and Phat Phrog Studios for musical interludes. This series has been made possible by the generous support of Arcadia University, especially FRANK AND EVELYN STEINBRUCKER Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    20 min

  8. 04/05/2024

    Episode 3 - A-Side: Loss

    Does the past require so much attention because the present is haunted by the constant possibilities of loss?  Is a "way of life" only known because one suspects it has already passed? The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. Special thanks to the Pixabay community, for musical interludes. This series has been made possible by the generous support of Arcadia University, especially FRANK AND EVELYN STEINBRUCKER Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    16 min

  9. 03/22/2024

    Episode 2 - A-Side: Disguise

    What debts are owed and to whom? This episode is a rumination on Erving Goffman's debt to James Johnson of Unst who was famous for his character, “Rasmie o Brettafield.” The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. Special thanks to the Pixabay community, for musical interludes. Comments by Mary Sutherland and Goffman’s letter to James Johnson are extracted from texts by Yves Winkins, from his introduction to Goffman’s Dissertation Thesis that is open access, entitled “Communication Conduct in an Island Community” and his article “Baltasound as the Symbolic Capital of Social Interaction. Both the comments and letters were read by voiceover from Speechelo Blaster. Special thanks to Angus Johnson and Brian Smith of the Shetland Archives, and the family of Andrew Irvine who permitted the edited extract of his oral history interview by Robert Johnson to be reproduced. This series has been made possible by the generous support of Arcadia University, especially FRANK AND EVELYN STEINBRUCKER Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    20 min

  10. 03/06/2024

    Episode 1 - A-Side: Energy

    Returning to the Shetland Islands and reflecting on the history of energy, memory, and social change. Send us a text The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. All rights reserved.

    15 min
  • 10 Episodes

About

A reflection of 40 years of intermittent ethnographic research on the Shetland Islands.  This is an experiment in intimate ethnography. Each episode of the "A-sides" follows a single theme. The same theme is explored on the "B-sides" but through contemporary fiction based on a tale found in Lawrence Tulloch's Shetland Folk Tales.

Information

  • Creator
    Jonathan Church
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Jonathan Church, A Confabulated Communities Production
  • Show Website
    The St. Magnus Street Tapes