Our emphasis lies in literature that represents historical conditions against settings situated primarily outside Britain. These include the study of American literature from the eighteenth century to the present day; European literature; World literature; postcolonial literature and postmodern American literature.
Our more specific research areas are varied, but include the following:
- The effects of slavery and empire in contemporary British society and culture
- Critical whiteness studies and early U.S. fiction,
- Science fiction writing in America,
- Under-represented American modernism,
- The legacies of American postmodernism,
- Experimental and digital literature.
- International Migration in its myriad forms
- Environmental Humanities, particularly in relation to energy and climate change
- Global Feminisms, particularly of the modernist period
- Narratives of the Chinese in Britain.
- Diaspora poetics
- Irish poetry
Theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches underpin our research approach and include critical race theory, postmodern theory, postcolonial theory, feminist theory, genre studies, and a strong creative-critical methodology.
Staff within this cluster are involved in the Centre for New and International Writing which supports our research and the very best in contemporary and international literatures. The Centre hosts regular events and readings by world-leading creative writers. Indeed, staff who direct the Centre’s activities are themselves award-winning creative writers.
Members of the Global Literatures research group currently include:
- Daniel Abdalla
- Niall Carson
- David Hering
- Lucienne Loh
- Eleanor Lybeck
- Hannah Murray
- Sophie Oliver
- Sandeep Parmar
- Deryn Rees-Jones
- Sam Solnick
- Frank Shovlin
Cluster Lead: Sandeep Parmar
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