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Understanding inequalities of race, colonialism and migration
Professor Pascale Aebischer
Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance Studies
p.v.aebischer@exeter.ac.uk @PascaleExeter @PandemicBeyond
Overview:
I am a feminist analyst of how the plays of early modern dramatists, including Shakespeare, are performed on stages and screens. My work shows audiences have different interpretations of the same performance depending on where they sit in a theatre, and bring their world-views and economic backgrounds with them. This means artists can unwittingly create different experiences for different theatre-goers. People watching from home also have different experiences from those watching in the theatre. Through my research I hope to encourage playwrights, actors, directors and producers to be more aware of these issues and think about how to address them. This could mean using the stage and theatre in a more innovative way or creative use of ticket pricing.
Professor Emily Bridger
Associate Professor in History
e.j.bridger@exeter.ac.uk @EJBridger
Overview:
I am a social and cultural historian of gender, violence and memory. My current project explores the longer histories of sexual violence in South Africa from apartheid to the present. Through archival research, oral history interviews, and close working with local communities, it traces how sexual violence was conceptualised, experienced, and responded to by the apartheid state, township communities, feminist organisations, and black women themselves. It aims to create new knowledge about the past that helps NGOs and policy makers to better understand and constructively address violence against women in the present. This research is funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.
Professor Jane Whittle
Professor of Economic and Social History
j.c.whittle@exeter.ac.uk @jcwhittle1
Overview:
I am a historian of late medieval and early modern England with a particular interest in women’s work. I currently hold a prestigious European Research Council Advanced Grant to study ‘Forms of Labour: Gender, Freedom and Experience of Work in the Preindustrial Economy’. Our understanding of ‘traditional’ (historical) work roles still influences behaviour today, for instance in the persistence of the gender pay gap. My research demonstrates the historical roots in how we conceptualise work and develops new methodologies to examine historical work patterns. It demonstrates the persistently high contribution of women to the economy and explains why this has been overlooked.
Professor Katharine Tyler
Professor of Social Anthropology
Overview:
My research falls within the interdisciplinary area of critical race studies, with a focus on whiteness, class and postcolonialism. My work is founded upon ethnographic fieldwork across differing places in Britain. I am Principal Investigator of two ESRC funded projects that bring together ethnographers, political scientists, and an artist to explore questions of identity, inequality, and the role of the media in the context of Brexit and the Covid pandemic. I am a team member of Professor Susan Banducci’s ERC project that mobilises survey, media and ethnographic data and approaches to explore women candidates’ experiences of sexism on the campaign trail.
Dr Ina Linge
Lecturer in German
K.Linge@exeter.ac.uk @DrInaLinge
Overview:
I am a Lecturer in German in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Exeter. My research in Queer German Studies investigates how historical LGBTQ+ people have navigated scientific knowledge about gender and sexuality. In particular, I research how LGBTQ+ people used autobiographical writing to critically engage with the science of sexology. Through my teaching practice and public engagement, I bring the art, literature and history of LGBTQ+ communities into cultural and heritage environments and engage young LGBTQ+ people to tell their stories in innovative ways.
Professor Jana Funke
Associate Professor of English and Sexuality Studies
j.funke@exeter.ac.uk @sciencesofsex @TransThruTime @outandaboutQTM
Overview:
LGBTQ+ people encounter different forms of social inequality. One problem is that LGBTQ+ experiences are often underrepresented in educational, museum and heritage spaces. This makes it difficult for LGBTQ+ people to engage with other LGBTQ+ voices and histories, which can result in a lack of belonging and pride. It can also make it harder to explore different ways of being LGBTQ+ and build confidence. Over the last ten years, I have used my research on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature and science to begin to address this problem. I have developed creative forms of engagement in collaboration with other academics, artists and performers, community groups and charities, museums, heritage sites and archives to centre diverse LGBTQ+ voices and make our histories and experiences more accessible to different audiences.
Dr. Gajendra Singh
Senior Lecturer in South Asian History
Overview:
My research is focused upon histories of colonialism in South Asia. I have particular interests in the hybridities of Empire – of the networks of peoples and ideas that could make even the most marginal individuals polyglot, multicultural bodies. My previous work explored the war testimonies of Indian soldiers during the two World Wars. My current work is an investigation of communities of migrant Indian labourers across the Pacific and their connection to revolutionary movements at home and abroad.
Dr Helena Wray
Associate Professor in Migration Law
Overview:
I am based in the Law School at the University of Exeter and my work centres on the regulation of bi-national families in the immigration system. I have worked on many projects with colleagues in law and the social and political sciences across the globe that develop the relatively new interdisciplinary research area of partner and spouse migration. In the UK, I was consultant on Supreme Court legal challenges that led to changes in the family migration rules to require the interests of children be given specific consideration. I am co-coordinator of the Exeter interdisciplinary migration and mobility network Routes.
Professor Gareth Stansfield
Professor of Middle East Politics, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean
g.r.v.stansfield@ex.ac.uk 01392 264105 @grvstansfield
Overview:
I am a Political Scientist and my academic home is the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, where I am currently the Pro-Vice-Chancellor & Executive Dean for the Faculty of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences. My research has focused on the modern politics of the Middle East, with particular reference to Iraq and Kurdistan, and thematic areas including conflict and conflict management, post-conflict rehabilitation, and state-building. I have recently completed a 5-year project funded by the ESRC addressing approaches to managing contestation over intra-state territories, which included extensive research in Iraq, Kurdistan, and areas previously controlled by the Islamic State organisation.