Lucy Goodison (born 1945) is a British writer who has combined work as an archaeologist of the prehistoricAegean, with involvement in the practice and teaching of body psychotherapy and engagement with issues ofsocial justice.[1] She has focused on actively challenging themind/body split and bridging the divide between thinking and feeling that is basic to the western world view.[2] Her books include:Death, Women and the Sun: Symbolism of Regeneration in Early Aegean Religion;Moving Heaven and Earth: Sexuality, Spirituality and Social Change; andHoly Trees and Other Ecological Surprises.
Lucy Goodison was educated at Bushey Grammar School[3] andNewnham College, Cambridge,[4] where she graduated in Classics and Modern & Medieval Languages.[5][6] She obtained a PhD in Classical Archaeology fromUniversity College, London.[7] She has been an Honorary Research Fellow of University College, London; a Leverhulme Research Fellow;[8] and a Phyllis and Eileen Gibbs Travelling Research Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge.[9]
She started work in the media, as staff scriptwriter for theBBC World Service, then as writer and director of historical and archaeological documentaries for ‘Chronicle’ on BBC-TV. She retained an interest in film and the arts, but her subsequent career followed three main concurrent and intertwined trajectories: as an independent scholar specializing in prehistoric Aegean and early Greek religion; as a practitioner, workshop leader and trainer in body therapies; and as an activist in community campaigns, especially around health, mental health and disability.[10] These different strands of activity have informed her writings, which range from academic texts to journalism and books for the lay reader on self-help therapy and on symbolic, somatic and social issues.[11]
Her earliest archaeological work, the monographDeath Women and the Sun: Symbolism of Regeneration in Early Aegean Religion, presented an innovative synthesis of evidence for the importance of the sun in Aegean religion;[12] she is also concerned with investigation of other physical aspects of prehistoric religion, especially in funerary rituals at the Mesara-type tombs of Minoan Crete.[13] She has been an advocate of integrating sensory, spiritual and social awareness in the consideration of ancient lives,[14] and has published numerous academic papers on various aspects of early Aegean religion. From 1990 to 1997, she was an occasional Lecturer for the British Museum (Education Service);[15] from 2001 to 2004, she taught Modern Greek in Adult Education; and she has lectured nationally[16] and internationally[17] on the iconography and embodied/performative ritual practices of prehistoric Crete.
Concurrently she trained in, and ran a 25-year private practice in, therapeutic massage;[18] has been a practitioner and teacher of bodywork therapies; and has campaigned around special education, self-help therapy and the National Health Service. Her work in these fields has included (1977–1988) as a Workshop Leader at The Women's Therapy Centre in London; 1988–1991 as Information Worker for Mencap in London; 1997–2001 as a Dance Therapist (currently a Registered Dance Movement Psychotherapist) in the Drug Addiction Unit atHolloway Prison, London;[19] and 1979–2003 as occasional tutor of self-help therapy, massage, dance, dreamwork and disability issues in Adult Education, including at the Mary Ward Centre, The Open Centre, Shoreditch Health Centre and Westminster Pastoral Foundation in London, and the Dorset Adult Education Service. In this field, she has authored several books and a number of articles, including forThe Guardian,Social Work Today,Open Mind,Psychotherapy and Politics International andHealth Service Journal. Her 1981 bookIn Our Own Hands: A Book of Self-help Therapy (co-authored with Sheila Ernst) clarified the possibilities for choice and autonomy for those undertaking therapy,[20] and became aTime Out andCity Limits Alternative Bestseller;[21][22][23] her writings on disability and special education were used as teaching materials by theOpen University.[24]
An ongoing interest in iconography, literature and performance in the field of the contemporary arts has been reflected in occasional work, including at Inter-Action Community Arts Trust, 1970–1972; as co-director and administrator of Reportage Photo Library, 1991–1994; a continuing involvement in writing and performing in community dance and topical street theatre; and work since 2010 as a co-ordinator of the non-profit imprint Just Press, publishing alternative titles ranging from studies of early documentary photographers to histories of radical theatre.[25]
"'Seeing' Stars... or Suns?" inAegaeum 44 (Neoteros), 2020, 169–179.
"Journeys with Death: Spatial Analysis of the Mesara-type Tombs of Prehistoric Crete", inUnlocking Sacred Landscapes: Spatial Analysis of Ritual and Cult in the Mediterranean, edited by G Papantoniou, C. E. Morris and A. K. Vionis, Åström Editions, 2019, 121–138.
"Thoughts about Light and Water at the Oval House of Chamaizi", inVon Kreta nach Kuba: Gedenkschrift zu Ehren des Berliner Archäologen Veit Stürmer, edited by K. Müller, B. Schiller and Der Fachschaftsrat des Winkelmann-Instituts der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH, 2018, 101–119.
"Sunlight, Divination, and the Dead in Aegean Ritual Tradition", inThe Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology, edited by C. Papadopoulos and H. Moyes,Oxford University Press, 2017 (online), 1–25.
"Where did the Mesara-type Tombs Travel From?" inProceedings of 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies, Heraklion 21st–25th September 2016 (online), 1–15.
"Goddesses in Prehistory", inA Companion to Gender Prehistory, edited by D. Bolger, John Wiley and Sons, 2013, 265–287, with Christine Morris.
"'Nature', the Minoans and Embodied Spiritualities", inArchaeology of Spiritualities, edited by K. Rountree, C. Morris and A. A. D. Peatfield, Springer, 2012, 207–225.
"At Death’s Door: New Evidence and New Narratives from the Mesara-type Tombs", inProceedings of the 11th International Congress of Cretan Studies, Rethymnon, 21st–27th October 2011, 277–293.
"'Why All this About Oak or Stone?': Trees and Boulders in Minoan Religion", inArchaeologies of Cult: Essays on Ritual and Cult in Crete in Honor of Geraldine C Gesell, edited by A. L. D'Agata and A. Van de Moortel, American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2009, 51–57.
"Gender, Body and the Minoans: Contemporary and Prehistoric Perceptions", inAegaeum 30 (Fylo) 2009, 233–241.
"Horizon and Body: Some Aspects of Cycladic Symbolism", inOrizon: A Colloquium on the Prehistory of the Cyclades, edited by N Brodie, J Doole, G Gavalas and C Renfrew,McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2008, 417–431.
"Wearing Wings and Falling: Ikaros in Archaeology?", inProceedings of the 10th International Congress of Cretan Studies, Chania, 1–8 October 2006, 579–596.
"Beyond Feasting: Activities with Animals at the Mesara-type Tombs", inProceedings of the 10th International Congress of Cretan Studies, Chania, 1–8 October 2006, 179–195.
"A New Catalogue of the Mesara-type Tombs", inStudi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 47, 2005, 171–212, with Carlos Guarita.
"From Tholos Tomb to Throne Room: Some considerations of Dawn Light and Directionality in Minoan Buildings", inKnossos: Palace, City, State, edited by G. Cadogan, E. Hatzaki and A. Vasilakis,British School at Athens, 2004, 339–350.
"Helen Waterhouse and her 'Priest-Kings?' paper", inCretan Studies Vol. 7, 2002, 89–96, with Helen Hughes-Brock.
"Divination with Water: A Diachronic Perspective", inProceedings of the 9th International Congress of Cretan Studies, Elounda, 1–6 October 2001, 369–383.
"Re-constructing Dialogues with the Dead", inProceedings of the 9th International Congress of Cretan Studies, Elounda, 1–6 October 2001, 325–340.
"From Tholos Tomb to Throne Room: Perceptions of the Sun in Minoan Ritual", inAegaeum 22 (Potnia), 2001, 77–88.
"Theatre of the Sun" with photographs by Carlos Guarita, inThe Independent on Sunday, April 2000.
"A Female Sun Deity in the Bronze Age Aegean?", inBulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 35, 1988, 168–173.
Writings on psychotherapy, disability, and community issues
"Narcissism: Fragile Bodies in a Fragile World", inPsychotherapy and Politics International 7(2), 2009, 81–94, with Sue Cowan-Jensson.
"Celebrity and the Flight from Mortality", inFree Associations: Psychoanalysis Groups Politics Culture 11(4), No. 60, 2004, 465–476, with Sue Cowan-Jenssen.
"A Dance to the Music of Time" on dance therapy work in HMP Holloway, inHealth Service Journal, October 1999, with Helen Schafer-Cohen.
"While you were sleeping", inNew Woman (Australia), 1997.
"Portrayal or Betrayal?" on public images of people with special needs or in mental distress, inOPENMIND, journal of MIND, June/July 1992, with Jane Armitage.
^Ernst, Sheila; Goodison, Lucy (1981).In Our Own Hands: A Book of Self-Help Therapy. London: The Women's Press. pp. 3–6.ISBN0704338416.
^King, Ursula (19 April 1991). "Glimpses of a Whole World - Review of Lucy Goodison, Moving Heaven and Earth: Sexuality, Spirituality, and Social Change". Times Educational Supplement.
^"The Quarto".The Quarto: The Magazine of Bushey Grammar School.11 (9): 16. October 1961.
^"Newnham College Report".Newnham College Report: 16. March 1965.
^"Classical Tripos Part I".Cambridge University Reporter. XCV no. 48 (4466): 2090. 24 June 1965.
^"Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos Part II".Cambridge University Reporter. XCVI no. 46 (4517): 2220. 24 June 1965.
^Goodison, Lucy (1985).Some aspects of religious symbolism in the Aegean area during the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. London: Institute of Classical Studies Library, University of London.
^Goodison, Lucy; Morris, Christine (1999).Ancient Goddesses: The Myths and the Evidence. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. p. Editors' Biographies on book jacket.ISBN0299163245.
^Cullen, Tracey; Goodison, Lucy (Winter 1991). "Death, Women, and the Sun: Symbolism of Regeneration in Early Aegean Religion by Lucy Goodison (Review)".Journal of Field Archaeology.18 (4):498–501.doi:10.2307/530412.JSTOR530412.
^Burgess, Yvonne (August 1991). "Moving Heaven and Earth...being the book that tries to pull it all together".The New Internationalist (222): 30.
^E.g. Colloquium on the Prehistory of the Cyclades 25–28 March 2004, published as Horizon, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 2008, see pp. xxiii, 417; Conference of Theoretical Archaeology Group, Programme and Delegate Information 19–21 December 2016, University of Southampton 2016, Session 20.
^E.g. 12th International Congress of Cretological Studies 21–25 September 2016, Program/Abstracts, Society of Cretan Historical Studies, 2016, p. 120; Spatial Analysis of Ritual and Cult in the Mediterranean 15–17 May 2015, Programme & Abstracts, Trinity College Dublin, 2015, p. 5.
^Goodison, Lucy (1990).Moving Heaven and Earth: Sexuality, Spirituality and Social Change (First ed.). London: The Womens Press. pp. 379–397.ISBN0704350386.
^Goodison, Lucy; Schafer-Cohen, Helen (October 1999). "A Dance to the Music of Time".Health Service Journal.
^Grant, Sandra (27 February 1981). "Finding the right therapy".The Daily Telegraph.
^"Alternative Bestsellers".Time Out. 2 April 1981.
^"Alternative Bestsellers".Time Out. 16 April 1981.
^"Year's Alternative Bestsellers".City Limits. 31 December 1981.
