Research seminars and reading groups
On this page you will find details of some of the seminars and reading groups in which staff and students in the Department are involved:
The Department of English Postgraduate Research Seminar
This weekly seminar is at the centre of the Department’s research culture. Organised by a committee of research students, it attracts a large audience of graduate students, staff, and visitors to hear a wide range of papers on topics of interest to the field of English Studies. Papers are delivered by visiting academics, Queen Mary faculty, and graduate students. The seminar has a tradition of hearing about work in progress, ensuring that it is at the cutting edge of scholarly debate. Autumn 2011 Seminar Programme
Queen Mary Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies
Queen Mary, University of London, has a large concentration of scholars working in the eighteenth-century studies, in a wide range of humanities disciplines (including English & Drama, History, Geography, Law, French, German, Politics). The centre provides a broad-based but focused intellectual support for colleagues working in the area, through research-related activities such as seminar and lecture series, reading groups, and conference organization. The centre has a seminar series that runs monthly in term time - take a look at the schedule for 2011-12.
Medieval/Early Modern Texts and Contexts
Medieval/Early Modern Texts and Contexts is run by Professor Julia Boffey (Department of English) and Professor Miri Rubin (Department of History). It covers subjects of interest to those working on aspects of cultural history between c 1200-1700, and meets at Queen Mary two or three times a year. For further information contact Julia Boffey: j.boffey@qmul.ac.uk, or Miri Rubin: m.e.rubin@qmul.ac.uk.
Renaissance Witnessed Seminar Series
The Renaissance Witnessed seminar is convened by Professor Kevin Sharpe, to review what the Renaissance now means to scholars across the disciplines, and to consider how new interdisciplinary methods and approaches have re-figured our understanding of developments traditionally associated with the term and period. Further details can be found on the website of the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies.
The London Eighteenth-Century Reading Group
This reading group is composed of graduate students and staff members from the Department whose research interests fall into the eighteenth century and Romantic periods. Meeting fortnightly in term time, we read a wide variety of texts, some of which are contemporary to the period we study, and others of which are key theoretical interventions or recent scholarship in the discipline. Each semester we collectively choose a topic and build reading around a structured programme: in recent years we have covered such themes as piracy and the high seas, walking, Spinoza, natural disasters, Kant, conversation, gardening, and antiquarianism. In addition to these sessions, we also practice other forms of expeditionary and sociable scholarship. For more information contact Markman Ellis.
Dissenting Studies Seminar Series
This Seminar, co-convened by Isabel Rivers, meets monthly on Wednesdays from January to July (excepting May) from 5.15-6.45pm in the Board Room, Dr Williams's Library, 14 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0AR. All are welcome. Those with an interest in Dr Williams's Library and its collections, and in the history of Protestant dissent are especially invited to attend. Further details are available on the Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies website.
Enlightenment and Romanticism Reading Group
Anne Janowitz founded the IES Enlightenment and Romanticism Reading Group with Emma Francis (University of Warwick) in 2000. The seminar was established to allow scholars working in or near London to meet and discuss new books of criticism, analysis, and biography in a convivial atmosphere. Since 2002, we have added a number of sessions on primary materials that have long been neglected, and/or ones that we wish to reconsider. Each session is led by an invited scholar who facilitates the discussion. Facilitators have included: Isobel Armstrong, Nigel Leask, Mary Pease, Harriet Guest, Markman Ellis, and Elizabeth Eger (co-organiser of the Reading Group since 2002).
For more information, please visit the Institute of English Studies website.
London Modernism Seminar
The London Modernism Seminar is an interdisciplinary seminar focusing on all aspects of modernist studies. It provides a forum for established and emerging researchers in the field to present papers on recent projects, and for the discussion of new topics and issues within modernist studies. Previous speakers have included Michael Levenson, Laura Marcus, Dame Gillian Beer, and Geoff Wallace. The seminar meets around once a month at the Institute of English Studies (IES), Senate House and all are welcome to attend. The seminar is sponsored by IES in collaboration with Queen Mary, Birkbeck, Goldsmiths, and the University of East London. For more information contact Suzanne Hobson or see the Institute of English Studies website.
Graduate Forum on Psychoanalytic Thought
In 2004 Professor Daniel Pick (Birkbeck, University of London) and Professor Jacqueline Rose launched the University-wide Graduate Forum on Psychoanalytic Thought, History, and Political Life. The event attracts a large number of students at MA and PhD level, post-docs, and some young faculty. The range of interests is genuinely interdisciplinary - including literature, philosophy, social thought, history, film, and photography - and participants demonstrate an articulate and enthusiastic interest in how psychoanalysis can help in the understanding of the crises of the present time. Further details are available from Jessica Dunne, Birkbeck, University of London: j.dunne@bbk.ac.uk.
The Irish Studies Seminar
The London Irish Studies Seminar is an interdisciplinary research seminar currently convened jointly by Professor Clair Wills of Queen Mary and Dr Ian McBride (History Department, Kings College, London). The series of presentations and discussions aim to bring together literary scholars, historians, and students and scholars from other disciplines in order to support and develop research in Irish history and culture. Seminars take place two or three times a semester at the Institute of English Studies, Senate House. Past topics have included 'Visual and Material Culture in the Free State', 'Race and Migration', and 'The Penal Laws'. Everyone is welcome. For more information contact Clair Wills or Ian McBride