Dr Rosie White
BA (CCAT), MA (Lancaster), PhD (Lancaster)Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature, Theory and Popular Culture
Programme Leader for MRes English Literature/History
| Contact details: School of Arts & Social Sciences Northumbria University Lipman Building, room 412 Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST phone: +44 (0) 191 227 3100 fax: +44 (0) 191 227 3696 rosemary.white@northumbria.ac.uk |
Biography
Following a first degree in English Literature I developed my interest in literary theory with the MA in Contemporary Literary Studies at Lancaster, for which I received British Academy funding. My subsequent PhD thesis focussed on the novels of contemporary feminist writer Michèle Roberts. I taught part time in the departments of English and Independent Studies at Lancaster while finishing my PhD, and was fortunate enough to get a full time job at La Sainte Union College in Southampton (subsequently University of Southampton New College) immediately on completion of the PhD. I came to Northumbria in 1998 and took on the role of Programme Leader for the English and Film Studies degree shortly after my arrival. More recently I have been Programme Leader for the English and Creative Writing programme, and have now taken on the same role for the MRes in English/History. Since the PhD my research and teaching interests have veered towards popular culture, particularly film and television studies. I also have a continuing interest in British cultural studies, together with a fascination for feminist theory. I published my first monograph in 2007 and continue to teach and write about popular culture, cultural theory and issues of representation.
Teaching Interests
My teaching and research interests are closely aligned; much of my teaching informs my research and vice versa. Current teaching includes two second year modules – Popular Fiction and Film Noir and Quality and Popular Television – and two third year modules – Theorizing Difference and Violent Femmes – plus contributing to first and second year lecture programmes. I have taught on MAs at Lancaster, Southampton and Northumbria, and look forward to teaching on the new MRes in English Literature/History.
Research Interests
My research interests continue to focus on two main areas: the representation of active female protagonists in popular culture and the novels of Michèle Roberts. Following publications on violent women and female spies, I am beginning to develop a new project about women comedy actors on British and American television, with particular reference to femininity, performance and notions of the grotesque. With my colleagues Victoria Bazin and Hilary Fawcett I co-founded a research group called Gendered Subjects in 1999. Gendered Subjects organized an international conference at Northumbria University: Re:Generations: Women, Age and Difference, 15th-16th April 2000. This event produced a number of papers on film, literature, fashion and popular fiction, which were published in a special issue of the American journal, Studies in the Literary Imagination (39:2, Fall, 2006), co-edited by Bazin, Fawcett and White. In 2002/2003 Gendered Subjects hosted a seminar series at Northumbria on Gender and Representation, and a further seminar series in 2007, which included presentations on Spanish cinema, independent film making and celebrity.
Other research interests include work on pedagogy. In December 2008 Dr Victoria Bazin and I organized a national conference at Northumbria; Beyond the Essay: Assessment in English Literature and Creative Writing was a great success. That conference has generated a related collection edited by Victoria Bazin, Jonathan Gibson and myself, also called Beyond the Essay, to be published by Palgrave. I was recently invited to contribute to an American collection on teaching Buffy the Vampire Slayer; the essay ‘Television, Violence and Demons: Discussing Media Effects with Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ draws together aspects of my academic and pedagogical research.
Postgraduate Supervision
I was part of the supervisory team for a project on African-American women playwrights in the 1960s and 70s and am currently involved in a doctorate on ‘Gender in the Star Wars Intertext’. I am interested in proposals from students who want to work on issues around women’s writing, popular culture, gender and cultural theory.
Affiliations and Memberships
Feminist and Women’s Studies Association (UK)
MECCSA
Crime Studies Northern Network
Research in Film and MediaNorth East Regional Film Seminar
Associate of the Northumbria University Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Selected Publications
'Television, Violence and Demons: Discussing Media Effects with the Vampire Slayer' in Buffy in the Classroom: Essays on Teaching with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, edited by Jodie A Krieder and Megan K Winchell (Jefferson, North Carolina: 2010)
'Funny Women', Feminist Media Studies, ol. 10, No. 3, 2010
'Violent Femmes: Women as Spies in Popular Culture' (Routledge, 2008)
‘Quality Television and the New Woman Professional in Alias’, Femininities on Screen, edited by Stacy Gillis and Melanie Waters (Palgrave, 2010)
‘You’ll be the death of me’: Mata Hari and the myth of thefemme fatale’ in Catherine O'Rawe (ed.), The Femme Fatale: Images, Histories, Contexts (Palgrave) forthcoming
‘Visions and Re-Visions: Women and Time in Michèle Roberts’In the Red Kitchen’, Women: A Cultural Review, Vol 15, Issue 2 (Autumn 2004)
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