Personal profile

Research interests

My research background, outputs, and interests are deeply interdisciplinary and they encompass a wide range of academic areas that includes Media Studies, Film and Television Studies and English literature. Perhaps most indicative of this focus is my doctorate thesis and first monograph, whose exploration of the cultural significance of apocalyptic fictions of the last two centuries' ends draws upon primary sources from scientific disciplines (biology, physics) as well as literary, philosophical and sociological texts. The monograph, Find-de-Siècle Fictions, 1890s-1990s: Apocalypse, Technoscience, Empire won the 2014 Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies Book of the Year Award by the University of California Riverside

More broadly, I have researched and published on late Victorian literature, media and culture, and this area of interest is largely informed by my belief in the importance of a historical and historicst approach to the study of media, literary and cultural forms. For this reason, I have an active interest in currently trending theories and methodologies, such as Media Archaeology and Archive Studies. Further areas related to this historical period, on which I have researched, published and taught, include late Victorian popular fictions (the 'scientific romance' - most prominently represented by the early work of H.G. Wells - but also the Gothic, crime and imperialist adventure fiction). I am currently updating my expertise and interests in this period with a further focus on the development of early moving-image technologies of the time that have led to what Linda Williams describes as 'the frenzy of the visible': zoopraxiscope, kinetoscope, etc.)

My research has also focused on the ways in which popular fictions from literature, film and television reproduce or challenge dominant ideologies of imperialism, colonialism and globalisation and I have a currently active interest in the function of early cinema as a medium of propaganda during the period of 'high noon imperialism' of the turn of the twentieth century. The relations of popular fictions to ideologies of Empire has informed my outputs and is an ongoing interest, as I have publshed work on science fiction, Gothic and imperialism/globalisation.

I have also reseached, published and presented on the relations between screen media, trauma theory and memory studies - more specfiically: debates on 'media effects' and violence in the media; the politics of commemoration (what societies and cultures choose to remember and what they choose to forget); potential therapeutic uses of the media; representations of historical trauma onscreen.

I am currently working on two research projects, following from the background outlined above:

  • the historical, structural and conceptual relations between media and trauma (provisional title: 'Remediating Trauma: Histories, Theories, Politics').
  • historical and contemporary discourses of utopia / dystopia in relation to theories of biopolitics and biopower, drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Judith Butler, and Nikolas Rose, among others.

 

 

Supervisory Interests

My supervisory interests include the study of popular media genres (science fiction, horror); the relations between media, memory and trauma; and media and politics (specifically imperialism, (post)colonialism and globalisation. Interdisciplinary projects on media, literature and culture are most welcome.

A more detailed indicative list of supervisory interests includes the following areas:

  • the study of popular media genres (science fiction, horror/Gothic, utopia/dystopia, (post-)apocalyptic fiction).
  • the relations between screen media, trauma theory and memory studies - with a more recent interest in nostalgia studies.
  • the historical and discursive relations between screen media and imperialism, globalisation and (post)colonialism.

Students with an interest in an interdisciplinary approach that extends across English studies and Film and Television studies are most welcome. I have also researched, taught and published on the late Victorian period ('fin de siecle') and postmodern theory, literature and culture.

Knowledge exchange

I initiated, led and co-ordinated the Film & Screen Studies Seminar Series, which ran for three academic years, and brought external speakers from different academic institutions around the UK. During its run, the series hosted distinguished speakers in the field such as Stacey Abbott, Jonathan Bignell, Will Brooker, Martin Eve, Des Freedman, Christine Gerarghty, Matt Hills, Anastasia Kavada, Roz Kaveney, Eleftheria Lekakis, Julian Petley, Billy Smart, Pasi Valiaho and Melanie Williams, among others. The series led to future collaborations between speakers and the University and enabled the strengthening of research networks and the initiation of collaborative projects.

I have also instituted the Film & Screen Studies Annual Symposium, where staff from my course team and other colleagues from within and beyond the School present their current research. The event is also attached to third-year undergraduate module Final Year Workshop, where students prepare their own Degree Show and attend this annual symposium in order to observe how their tutors run the event and enhance their knowledge of event management skills. The symposium is also meant to lead to research outputs and two publication projects are currently in progress through this platform.

I have also initiated or participated in the organisation of academic conferences such as the Screening the Unreal 2019 symposium and the one on 'Space, Place, Identities Onscreen' in Brighton, a conference on 'Cosmopolitanism, Media and Global Crisis' at Kingston University, one on 'The Apocalypse and its Discontents' at the University of Westminster, and a conference on 'Media Matters: Friedrich Kittler and Technoculture' at the Tate Modern, in collaboration with the London Consortium and Birkbeck.

I am currently planning the organisation of an academic conference on 'The Neo-Victorian and the Late-Victorian' with colleague Victoria Margree from the School of Humanities. This will be an event supported by both Schools (Media and Humanities) as well as the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories, of which I am a member.

External positions

External Examiner - BA (Hons) Media & Communication , Kingston University

1 Sept 20171 Sept 2021

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