The study of World Literatures in English—comprising not just the literatures of former British colonies, but the entire range of literatures written in English from the non-Anglophone world—is a burgeoning area of teaching and research in the English Department. Beyond the strictly literary, we work at the intersection of disciplines, and have particular strengths in the history of the colonial/post-colonial world. Research interests include, but are not restricted to, African literary history, embodied orientalism, colonial whiteness, hybrid approaches to Shakespeare, and the intersection between postcolonial and queer theories.
Members of the Group
Karina Lickorish Quinn specialises in Latin American and Latinx diaspora literature with a special interest in British Latinx writing. She is also interested in Indigenous writers from the region known as Latin America and supporting the translation and dissemination of their work. Karina is also a specialist in multilingual and transnational literature.
Dr Amber Lascelles is Lecturer in Global Anglophone Literature in the Department of English at Royal Holloway University of London. Her research considers how contemporary fiction of the African diaspora enables new ways of conceiving the relationship between race, embodiment and literature. She is especially interested in how literature intervenes in Black feminist discourse and concerns in a range of texts by African, Black British, and Anglophone Caribbean women writers, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dionne Brand, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Bernardine Evaristo and Zadie Smith. Her research and writing has been published in African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, the Journal of Postcolonial Writing and Wasafiri. Previously, she was the Research Associate for the Wellcome-Trust funded project Black Health and the Humanities at the University of Bristol, which involved developing a network of scholars working in this area.
Prospective PhD Students
Prospective PhD students and postdoctoral researchers are invited to make contact with the member of staff most closely aligned to their areas of interest for informal discussion of developing research proposals. The Department of English has a strong record of providing AHRC funding and other scholarships for suitably qualified students. Training and support is offered at our aesthetically acclaimed Egham campus. The proximity to London offers exceptional resources for research students: apart from Senate House Library, students are encouraged to visit the British Library. Recommended seminar series in London include the Imperial and World History Seminar Colonial/Postcolonial New Researchers’ Workshop (King’s College London), Postcolonial Studies Network (King’s College London), Centre for Cultural, Literary, and Postcolonial Studies Seminars (SOAS), and the Queen Mary Postcolonial Seminar.
