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Alumnus, Department of English Language and Literature
University of Central Lancashire, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science
The University of Leeds, English
Independent Researcher
Thesis Title: "Building Cosmopolis: The Political Thought of H. G. Wells" (Reading, 2001)
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Prof. Patrick Parrinder
Prof. Gregory Claeys Dr. Geoffrey Harvey |
About
I am a researcher of the socialist and labour movements, both British and international, with special interests in socialist biography and the organised socialist women's movement.
After earning a first class degree with honours in history from the University of Central Lancashire (1995), I was awarded a British Academy studentship to complete a Master's in English literature at the University of Leeds (1997). I then won a university scholarship at the University of Reading to undertake my doctorate, writing a thesis on the political thought of H. G. Wells (2001).
I have published widely on the political thought and the philosophy of science of H. G. Wells, focusing on his world government theory and his application of Darwinian evolutionary thinking to politics, education and international relations.
I have researched the political vision of Woody Guthrie, as expressed through his pioneering folk music, as well as local socialist activists in Reading, UK, notably Phoebe Cusden and Lorenzo Quelch, and written a comparative study of the socialisms of George Orwell and H. G. Wells.
My current research focusses on the influence and reception of the women's international socialist leader, Clara Zetkin, in Britain from the 1880s to the 1930s.
Within these research areas I like to focus on questions of women's struggle within male dominated political realms, and I also utilise literary texts and musical lyrics as historical sources. More recently I have also explored the wealth of untapped material in both the popular press and the specialist press to inform my research, considering such subjects as Welsh identity in football journalism, and ideological factors represented in the reportage of the interwar birth control movement.
