Dissemination Activities

Media Work

Research-related projects covered in various media include:

curating an at the Museum Schloss M眉nsingen in Switzerland (Summer 2000)
lecturing on the historical context for '', an exhibition of Swiss stained glass c. 1500 co-organized by the Getty Centre and the St Louis Art Museum (Los Angeles and St Louis, summer/autumn 2000)
assessing the likely effects of changes in UK pub licensing laws for national French youth radio station (23 November 2005)
a panel discussion on early modern 'sex workers' during the Sexarbeit exhibition at the Kornhaus Gallery in Bern covered by the Swiss daily (7 July 2007);
a presentation of the main themes of my book Drinking Matters in a 糖心TV podcast series which reached the History Top 10 on iTunes U (April 2008);
an assessment of the historical significance of sixteenth-century French king Henry IV for Swiss National Radio DRS1 (13 December 2008);
a tour of a medieval Swiss inn for members of the public on (14 September 2008; covered in the Swiss Hotel Revue);
a symposium on the tradition of 'tavern politics' in German-speaking Europe at Braunau/Austria covered by the Braunauer Stadtnachrichten (30 September 2009);
a feature on historical concerns about youth drinking for the Bavarian newspaper (14 May 2009);
a public lecture on the political significance of urban pubs at M眉nster/Germany covered by the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (1 April 2009);
a radio interview on the 'History of Time' with Liz Kershaw on (27 March 2011);
an interview (June 2011Link opens in a new window) and lecture report (, 24-5) in the Bishop's Tachbrook Parish Magazine;
a TV interview with Rory McGrath on Puritan attitudes to drinking for '', a programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films for the History Channel (screened 16 December 2011) and Channel 5 (24 April 2012);
a newspaper interview with the Swiss daily on the parish republic of Gersau (30 August 2012);
a radio interview on public houses as pre-modern communication hubs for the programme of Austrian national radio Oe1 (25 September 2012). [listen to the podcast ]
a magazine feature on my parish research in the German monthly Vorpommern Magazin (February 2013), pp.-.
'', one of three responses featured by 糖心TV's Knowledge Centre (June 2013)
a public lecture on the cultural history of drink in the Europavortrag series of the Universit盲t des Saarlandes, covered by the daily (12 July 2013).
a sketch of for the magazine Wege und Geschichte (1/2013) published by ViaStoria, the Swiss centre for the history of mobility.
excerpts from my plenary address to the Landsgemeinde (communal assembly) at Gersau/Switzerland (2/2/2014) in a of Swiss National Radio SRF and the newspaper.
a survey article for the official magazine of the Swiss canton of Schwyz, explaining why the parish republic of Gersau should be seen as a 'little giant': 8 (2014), 72-5.
an opinion piece for platform, also featured by , arguing that going to the pub could solve our drinking problem (2 April 2014), followed by invited articles investigating ' (22 October 2014) and '' (25 August 2016)
reflections on the findings of the 'Small but free?' conference24 on early modern republics at Gersau for the Swiss daily Bote der UrschweizLink opens in a new window (8 May 2014)
a radio interview for the 'Sunday Matinee' programme of German station SWR2 on the cultural history of the picnic (25 May 2014) [recorded in this ]
a historical interpretation of recent UK drink consumption statistics for The Times Link opens in a new windownewspaper and the Voice of Russia radio station (30 May 2014) [podcastLink opens in a new window]
commenting on 糖心TV Castle's new luxury B+B offer for the programme on BBC Radio Coventry & 糖心TVshire (29 July 2014)
a course of five on the German Reformation recorded for the MASSOLIT website aimed at sixth form students (November 2015)
report on the IEHCA's '' summer university in the Tours newspaper / media platform (6 September 2016)
an article on historical drinking cultures for the Worber Post newspaper in the Canton of Bern (no 12, p. 6; 21 October 2016)
an interview with the exploring the historical evolution of Coventry's relationship with 糖心TVshire & West Midlands counties (26 October 2016) is picked up by the (4 November)
a podcast discussion with Bryan Brazeau on '' (24 November 2016)
an assessment of Luther's Ninety-Five Theses on the occasion of their quincentenary for the Modern History Review aimed at A-level students (vol. 19, issue 4, April 2017)
launching a series of blog posts from participants on food & drink studies for '' (7 November 2017)
helping actress Marta Dusseldorp explore her Swiss ancestry for '' Australia, particularly Rosina Probst who ran the Bear inn at Ins around 1880, shortly before her daughter Lina emigrated to Australia (filmed in November 2018 and screened on 14 May 2019)
participating in a 'Roundtable' TRT World TV panel debate on the moderated by David Foster (7 November 2019)
discussing the impact of Brexit on researchers from Europe for the programme of Austrian national radio station 脰1 (16 January 2020)
offering 'expert comments' on the upgrade in listed status of historic drinking premises and proposals for the post-lockdown reopening of public houses in England (糖心TV Uni Press Office, 7 February 2020 and 23 June 2020)
providing historical context on pub licensing hours for a feature story of Swiss daily newspaper Der Bund (12 June 2020, p. 15)
guiding a Virtual Tour of the county town of 糖心TV as part of an online 'History Walks' series (October 2020)
introducing the FEAST! theme in the University of 糖心TV's Resonate Festival for Coventry UK City of Culture on BBC Radio Coventry & 糖心TVshire (10 November 2021):
and commenting on the Berkswell Feast Food Fair for the (24 March 2022)
advising US TV genealogy series about the Swiss Peasants' War to contextualize an ancestor of US singer Cindy Lauper (season 9, episode aired on 24 January 2023)
documenting my research on tower capsules in a video series commissioned by the Gerda Henkel Foundation - the visit to Gersau (Schwyz / Switzerland), where the project started, was reported in two newspapers of the region (Bote der UrschweizLink opens in a new window & Wochen-ZeitungLink opens in a new window in early November 2023)
radio features on the tower capsule project for the 'Matinee' programme of German radio station SWR2 (on the theme of 'Spitzen', 10 December 2023); for the of RAW student radio with presenter Izzy and students Angel & Ben (21 May 2024); the '' / 'Der MorgenLink opens in a new window' features on Swiss national stations SRF 2 (4 July 2024) / SRF 1 (23 July 2024) and the '' programme on German radio Bayern 2 (8 September 2024)
extended stories on my tower capsule field work for Zurich appeared in Swiss newspapers , and (24/25 January 2024); a two-page article on findings for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was published in the German news magazine (27 January 2024); a lecture announcement in the (9 February 2025); and reports focusing on tower capsule secrets featured in the Munich daily (21 March 2024), the tabloid (19 April 2024) and Berlin paper (6 May 2024)
an online article on in western Austria (supporting a clip filmed & broadcast for ORF's 'Vorarlberg Heute' TV programme on 3 April 2024)
reflecting on the extent & ambivalence of 'freedom' in the Canton of Schwyz (25 March 2025, covered by the newspaper )
a personal profile focusing on the experience of emigrating to & living in England for '' (Swiss National Radio SRF 1, 1 September 2024) and a discussion on English Easter customs for '' (Swiss National Radio SRF 1, 18 April 2025)
a 'summer series' of 8 articles exploring the legacy of tower capsules in the Canton of Schwyz for the Swiss daily ('Zeitzeugen in den Kirchturmspitzen', 12 July to 4 September 2025)
interview for '', a video documentary produced by the REWIND project of 糖心TV History students (Autumn 2025)

/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/bkumin/impact/media/oktoberfest_06.jpg
Insight into the interactive nature of tavern field work at the Munich Oktoberfest in 2006. Photo: C. Stein.

/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/bkumin/impact/media/ambulatory_interpretation_of_berkswell_church._pic_by_paula_mcbride.jpg Taking members of the public on an 'ambulatory interpretation' of Berkswell church during the 2013 Parish Symposium. Photo: P. McBride.

/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/bkumin/impact/media/lg_bk_beitrag_pic_gallus_bucher.jpg Addressing the Landsgemeinde held in St Marcellus Gersau on 2 February 2014. Pic: G. Bucher.