Mitra
royona mitra (she/her) is professor in dance and performance cultures and the author of unmaking contact: choreographing south asian touch (oup, april 2025) and akram khan: dancing new interculturalism (palgrave, may 2015). her first monograph was awarded the 2017 de la torre bueno first book award by the dance studies association (dsa) and it was runner-up for the 2016 new career research in theatre/performance awarded by the theatre & performance research association (tapra). her second monograph's conceptual premise was published in an article titled "unmaking contact: choreographic touch at the intersections of race, caste and gender", and was awarded dance studies association's gertrude lippincott award in 2022 for the best english language journal article. royona's co-edited journal special issue titled "outing archives/archives outing" for contemporary theatre review journal, alongside profs bryce lease and melissa blanco borelli, was awarded the theatre and performance research association's edited collection prize in 2022. prior to joining the theatre department at brunel in 2013, royona was a senior lecturer in the drama department at university of wolverhampton where she was also the ma drama course leader. she has also taught in the theatre and performance department at the university of plymouth. royona served as a member on the ref2021 sub panel 33 (2018-2022). she is co-chair of the theatre and performance research association (2022- ) alongside dr broderick chow. she was elected as secretary to join the executive committee for scudd (standing conference for university drama department) from 2013-2016. she was also an elected member of dsa’s (dance studies association) board of directors (2018-2022), and a working group convenor for the bodies and performance wg of tapra (2015-2018). she has served on the editorial board for dsa's studies in dance history series (2015-2018), was a co-editor for the training grounds section of theatre, dance and performance training journal (2015-2018), and is on the editorial board for contemporary theatre review. w: royona's research examines systems of oppression in dance and performance cultures at the intersections of bodies, social power regimes, and choreography as resistance, and she contributes to the fields of diaspora and performance, south asian dance and performance cultures, critical dance studies and performance studies. her first monograph akram khan: dancing new interculturalism analyses the relationship between this british-asian dance artist's complex identity-positions and his art through the lens of ‘new interculturalism’. through seven key case studies from khan’s oeuvre, this book demonstrates how khan’s philosophy and aesthetic of ‘new interculturalism’ is a challenge to the 1980s predominantly western ‘intercultural theatre’ project, as a more nuanced and embodied approach to representing othernesses, from his own position of the other. additionally, the book challenges popular perception of khan’s art as contemporary south asian dance by suggesting that, instead, khan uses south asian dramaturgical principles to transform the western contemporary dance landscape in intercultural ways. offering the first full-length investigation of akram khan’s work, this book is essential reading for students, researchers, practitioners and fans of khan’s work. her second monograph unmaking contact: choreographing south asian touch, published in april 2025, interrogates the politics of choreographing touch at the intersections of race, gender, caste, faith, sexuality, new interculturalisms and decoloniaity, and reframes contact in choreography beyond tactility through foregrounding transnational south asian choreographic practices. royona has worked alongside dr. prarthana purkayastha (royal holloway university, uk) and dr. anusha kedhar (university of california, riverside) on a project titled “south asian dance equity (sade): the arts british south asian dance ignores,” which was being funded by the arts and humanities research council as a dance research matters network grant project (2023-2025. she is also working on a double volume co-edited anthology project alongside drs anurima banerji (ucla, usa) and jasmine johnson (upenn, usa) titled the oxford handbooks of dance praxis, contracted with oxford university press. she completed a british academy small grant funded project titled ‘contemporary dance and whiteness' alongside drs simon ellis (coventry) and arabella stanger (sussex) in 2019. the project’s aim was to examine race and racism in british contemporary dance and to critique whiteness as part of a commitment to the field’s anti-racist futures. the project examines whiteness as a structure of racism that exists in the relationships between personal prejudice, cultural norms, and the lived conditions of inequality and racial violence. working in coalition with uk and us colleagues from across theatre and dance studies, royona has been leading conversations on anti-racism for these disciplines as a scholar and an educator, with a strong commiment to dismantling their whiteness. interculturalism and performance studies critical race theory and performance studies postcolonial studies, decolonialities and theatre, dance and performance studies dance, performance and diaspora studies south asian dance studies royona’s teaching specialisms are in the fields of physical theatre/dance–theatre, live art practices, dance and embodiment, intercultural performance, critical theory and anti-racism and performance. she would be keen to supervise phd projects in the above areas and also projects that interrogate the relationships between bodies, cultures, gender, race, sexuality and identity in performance.
![Professor Royona Mitra]()
Professor Royona Mitra
Royona Mitra (she/her) is Professor in Dance and Performance Cultures and the author of Unmaking Contact: Choreographing South Asian Touch (OUP, April 2025) and Akram Khan: Dancing New Interculturalism (Palgrave, May 2015). Her first monograph was awarded the 2017 de la Torre Bueno First Book Award by the Dance Studies Association (DSA) and it was runner-up for the 2016 New Career Research in Theatre/Performance awarded by the Theatre & Performance Research Association (TaPRA). Her second monograph's conceptual premise was published in an article titled "Unmaking Contact: Choreographic Touch at the Intersections of Race, Caste and Gender", and was awarded Dance Studies Association's Gertrude Lippincott Award in 2022 for the Best English Language Journal Article. Royona's co-edited journal special issue titled "Outing Archives/Archives Outing" for Contemporary Theatre Review journal, alongside Profs Bryce Lease and Melissa Blanco Borelli, was awarded the Theatre and Performance Research Association's Edited Collection Prize in 2022. Prior to joining the Theatre Department at Brunel in 2013, Royona was a Senior Lecturer in the Drama Department at University of Wolverhampton where she was also the MA Drama Course Leader. She has also taught in the Theatre and Performance Department at the University of Plymouth. Royona served as a member on the REF2021 Sub Panel 33 (2018-2022). She is Co-Chair of the Theatre and Performance Research Association (2022- ) alongside Dr Broderick Chow. She was elected as Secretary to join the Executive Committee for SCUDD (Standing Conference for University Drama Department) from 2013-2016. She was also an elected member of DSA’s (Dance Studies Association) Board of Directors (2018-2022), and a Working Group Convenor for the Bodies and Performance WG of TaPRA (2015-2018). She has served on the editorial board for DSA's Studies in Dance History series (2015-2018), was a co-editor for the Training Grounds section of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training Journal (2015-2018), and is on the editorial board for Contemporary Theatre Review. W: Royona's research examines systems of oppression in dance and performance cultures at the intersections of bodies, social power regimes, and choreography as resistance, and she contributes to the fields of diaspora and performance, South Asian dance and performance cultures, critical dance studies and performance studies. Her first monograph Akram Khan: Dancing New Interculturalism analyses the relationship between this British-Asian dance artist's complex identity-positions and his art through the lens of ‘new interculturalism’. Through seven key case studies from Khan’s oeuvre, this book demonstrates how Khan’s philosophy and aesthetic of ‘new interculturalism’ is a challenge to the 1980s predominantly western ‘intercultural theatre’ project, as a more nuanced and embodied approach to representing Othernesses, from his own position of the Other. Additionally, the book challenges popular perception of Khan’s art as contemporary South Asian dance by suggesting that, instead, Khan uses South Asian dramaturgical principles to transform the western contemporary dance landscape in intercultural ways. Offering the first full-length investigation of Akram Khan’s work, this book is essential reading for students, researchers, practitioners and fans of Khan’s work. Her second monograph Unmaking Contact: Choreographing South Asian Touch, published in April 2025, interrogates the politics of choreographing touch at the intersections of race, gender, caste, faith, sexuality, new interculturalisms and decoloniaity, and reframes contact in choreography beyond tactility through foregrounding transnational South Asian choreographic practices. Royona has worked alongside Dr. Prarthana Purkayastha (Royal Holloway University, UK) and Dr. Anusha Kedhar (University of California, Riverside) on a project titled “South Asian Dance Equity (SADE): The Arts British South Asian Dance Ignores,” which was being funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as a Dance Research Matters Network Grant project (2023-2025. She is also working on a double volume co-edited anthology project alongside Drs Anurima Banerji (UCLA, USA) and Jasmine Johnson (UPenn, USA) titled The Oxford Handbooks of Dance Praxis, contracted with Oxford University Press. She completed a British Academy Small Grant funded project titled ‘Contemporary Dance and Whiteness' alongside Drs Simon Ellis (Coventry) and Arabella Stanger (Sussex) in 2019. The project’s aim was to examine race and racism in British contemporary dance and to critique whiteness as part of a commitment to the field’s anti-racist futures. The project examines whiteness as a structure of racism that exists in the relationships between personal prejudice, cultural norms, and the lived conditions of inequality and racial violence. Working in coalition with UK and US colleagues from across theatre and dance studies, Royona has been leading conversations on anti-racism for these disciplines as a scholar and an educator, with a strong commiment to dismantling their whiteness. Interculturalism and Performance Studies Critical Race Theory and Performance Studies Postcolonial Studies, Decolonialities and Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies Dance, Performance and Diaspora Studies South Asian Dance Studies Royona’s teaching specialisms are in the fields of physical theatre/dance–theatre, live art practices, dance and embodiment, intercultural performance, critical theory and anti-racism and performance. She would be keen to supervise PhD projects in the above areas and also projects that interrogate the relationships between bodies, cultures, gender, race, sexuality and identity in performance.
Spurlin
william j spurlin is professor emeritus and honorary professor of english and comparative literature in the college of business, arts & social sciences; prior to his retirement in 2022, professor spurlin was professor of english and vice-dean in the college of business, arts & social sciences where he held the portfolio for teaching and learning. professor spurlin has written extensively on the politics of gender and sexual dissidence and is widely known for his research in queer studies and modern and contemporary comparative literature which spans the 20th and 21st centuries. his latest monograph, contested borders: queer politics and cultural translation in contemporary francophone writing from the maghreb (2022) broadens understandings of dissident sexualities in africa throgh examining representations of same-sex desire emerging in recent francophone autofictional writing from the maghreb complicated and nuanced by the experience of emigration and settlement by the writers concerned in france. his previous monograph, lost intimacies: rethinking homosexuality under national socialism (2009), uses queer theory as a hermeneutic tool with which to read against the grain of hetero-textual narratives of the holocaust and as a way for locating sexuality at its intersections with race, gender, and eugenics within the national socialist imaginary. his book also challenges prevailing assumptions in the received scholarship that lesbians were not as systematically persecuted by the nazis. the research for lost intimacies was funded by the arts and humanities research council (ahrc), and the book is widely cited and has been reviewed in such journals as men and masculinities; german studies review; international review of social history; and zeitscrift für geschichtswissenscaft. professor spurlin’s research also investigates sexuality as a significant vector of social organisation and cultural arrangement in colonial and postcolonial africa. his earlier book, imperialism within the margins: queer representation and the politics of culture in southern africa (2006), examines the politics of sexuality that emerged in south africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy and analyses its effects in the region. this work, funded by the us national endowment for the humanities, led to his theorisation of the racialisation of sexuality under the third reich, given that the framers of apartheid in south africa visited nazi germany, in the years prior to the outbreak of the second world war, to study nazi eugenics and fascist hierarchies of race, which engendered, in both regimes, the policing of sexuality through the regulation of gender norms and racial policies. professor spurlin has also co-edited, with jarrod hayes and margaret r. higonnet, comparatively queer: interrogating identities across time and cultures (2010), and he has written extensively on postcolonial/queer theory, african studies, queer translation studies, modern and contemporary comparative literature, and the biomedicalisation of sexuality in more than 50 essays in international journals and as chapters in volumes, most recently in the wiley-blackwell companion to holocaust studies (forthcoming 2020), journal of medical humanities (2018), queer in translation (2017), research in african literatures (2016), the future of postcolonial studies (2015), comparative literature studies (2014), and studies in ethnicity and nationalism (2013). he is currently writing a book on representations of sexual dissidence in new queer francophone life writing from the maghreb. professor spurlin has given invited lectures on his work in queer holocaust studies across new zealand at universities, the auckland museum, and the national library in wellington sponsored by the new zealand holocaust centre. he has given invited lectures in queer studies, postcolonial studies, and translation studies around the world in english and in french, most recently in south africa, china, australia, and across europe and north america. he holds a ph.d. in comparative literature from columbia university. for the outstanding contribution of his research in queer studies to social science scholarship, professor spurlin has been named a fellow of the academy of social sciences (2017) and principal fellow of the higher education academy (2016) in recognition of exceptional leadership and scholarship in teaching. professor spurlin's interdisciplinary research in queer studies, postcolonial studies, and critical/cultural theory encompasses the analysis of a broad range of literary, cultural, and critical texts ranging from the fin de siècle through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. trained in comparative literature and critical theory, the texts with which he works cross national, geographic, and linguistic borders and include not only british and american texts, but those located within francophone and germanic cultures, southern africa, and the wider african diaspora. his recent work, particularly his book imperialism within the margins: queer representation and the politics of culture in southern africa (2006), funded by the us national endowment for the humanities and a visiting fellowship at the university of cape town, has contributed to the formulation new theoretical thinking at the nexus of postcolonial and queer enquiry. his latest monograph, lost intimacies: rethinking homosexuality under national socialism (2009), builds on his postcolonial work by focusing specifically on the interwar period, marked by the decline of european imperialism in the colonies and the simultaneous rise of totalitarianism within europe, especially german fascism. this book examines the racialisation of homosexuality in another racist regime, that of national socialism, which was also underwritten by a politics of gender and eugenics in a similar, but not reducible, way that it was under colonialism and apartheid in south africa, and within some forms of postcolonial nationalism in africa and elsewhere that continue to racialise homosexuality as a vestige of empire. this project was supported by a one-year sabbatical in 2004 whilst at cardiff university and by a research grant from the arts and humanities research council (ahrc). his recent monograph project contested borders: queer politics and cultural translation in contemporary francophone writing from the maghreb, published in 2022 by rowman & littlefield, analyses how writers such as rachid o., eyet-chekib djaziri, abdellah taia, and nina bouraoui foreground translation and narrative reflexivity around incommensurable spaces of queerness in order to index their crossings of negotiations of multiple languages, histories, and cultures, alongside crossings of gender and sexuality. by writing in french, the book argues that the writers are not merely mimicking the language of their former coloniser, but inflecting a european language with discursive turns of phrase indigenous to north africa, thus creating new possibilities of meaning and expression to name their lived experiences of gender and sexual alterity--a form of (queer) translational practice that destabilises received gender/sexual categories both within the maghreb and in europe. professor spurlin has published over sixty essays in queer studies, postcolonial studies, african studies, feminist theory, and comparative literature and culture. his work has been instrumental in formulating the new discipline of queer translation studies, especially through guest-editing, by invitation, a special issue of the journal comparative literature studies in 2014 on the gender and sexual politics of translation. he has given invited lectures on his work in france; most recently at univ de paris xiii, at the centre d' études des discours, images, textes, écrits, et communications at univ de paris xii, at the college international de philosophie, and at the sorbonne, as well as in south africa, singapore, china, canada, australia, new zealand, across north america, and in other parts of the world. professor spurlin has also lectured in medical/clinical contexts on queer theory and biomedical practice at nhs trust-funded symposia on sexual health, and in medical research centres and hospitals, on topics pertaining to the cultural politics of biomedicine and sexuality, stis, and hiv/aids care. he chaired the comparative gender studies committee at the international comparative literature association (icla) from 2010-2016, and he was a member of the icla executive council from 2010-2022. he served as an appointed member of the peer review college of the arts and humanities research council (ahrc) from 2007-2016, and has served on the boards of several academic journals. for the outstanding contribution of his scholarship to social science research and thinking, professor spurlin was nominated and named a fellow of the british academy for the social sciences (facss) in 2017. professor spurlin's research has also addressed critically the pedagogical situation from the perspectives of cultural studies and queer theory. this work includes an edited volume lesbian and gay studies and the teaching of english: positions, pedagogies, and the politics of culture (2000) and an invited guest editorship of a special issue of the american journal college english on 'lesbian and gay studies: queer pedagogies' in 2002. both works attempt to engage (queer) difference(s) as a means of enabling radical re-readings of the public space of the classroom through which to envision more participatory spheres of critical deliberation. he continues to remain interested in, and dedicated to, this work both as a teacher and as a public intellectual, and he is especially concerned about the role of the humanities and queer studies in academic and public life. professor spurlin was named fellow of the higher education academy (fhea) in 2009 for excellence in teaching. in 2016, he was awarded principal fellow (pfhea), the most senior level of fellowship conferred by the academy, for his exceptional record of strategic leadership in teaching at institutional level, in the uk higher education sector, and internationally for the global reach and breadth of his published scholarship in queer pedagogy, which has influenced teaching practices worldwide evident through its sustained and continued international citation and review. queer studies gender studies postcolonial studies (with an emphasis on gender, queer, and/or africa) critical theory african or african-american studies comparative literature or translation (with an emphasis on gender or queer) diaspora/migration/border studies (with in an emphasis on gender or queer) 20th century/modernist/postmodernist literatures/cultures postgraduate teaching queer theory undergraduate teaching modern & contemporary lesbian literature world literature modern texts & contexts
![Professor William Spurlin]()
Professor William Spurlin
William J Spurlin is Professor Emeritus and Honorary Professor of English and Comparative Literature in the College of Business, Arts & Social Sciences; prior to his retirement in 2022, Professor Spurlin was Professor of English and Vice-Dean in the College of Business, Arts & Social Sciences where he held the portfolio for teaching and learning. Professor Spurlin has written extensively on the politics of gender and sexual dissidence and is widely known for his research in queer studies and modern and contemporary comparative literature which spans the 20th and 21st centuries. His latest monograph, Contested Borders: Queer Politics and Cultural Translation in Contemporary Francophone Writing from the Maghreb (2022) broadens understandings of dissident sexualities in Africa throgh examining representations of same-sex desire emerging in recent francophone autofictional writing from the Maghreb complicated and nuanced by the experience of emigration and settlement by the writers concerned in France. His previous monograph, Lost Intimacies: Rethinking Homosexuality under National Socialism (2009), uses queer theory as a hermeneutic tool with which to read against the grain of hetero-textual narratives of the Holocaust and as a way for locating sexuality at its intersections with race, gender, and eugenics within the National Socialist imaginary. His book also challenges prevailing assumptions in the received scholarship that lesbians were not as systematically persecuted by the Nazis. The research for Lost Intimacies was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and the book is widely cited and has been reviewed in such journals as Men and Masculinities; German Studies Review; International Review of Social History; and Zeitscrift für Geschichtswissenscaft. Professor Spurlin’s research also investigates sexuality as a significant vector of social organisation and cultural arrangement in colonial and postcolonial Africa. His earlier book, Imperialism within the Margins: Queer Representation and the Politics of Culture in Southern Africa (2006), examines the politics of sexuality that emerged in South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy and analyses its effects in the region. This work, funded by the US National Endowment for the Humanities, led to his theorisation of the racialisation of sexuality under the Third Reich, given that the framers of apartheid in South Africa visited Nazi Germany, in the years prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, to study Nazi eugenics and fascist hierarchies of race, which engendered, in both regimes, the policing of sexuality through the regulation of gender norms and racial policies. Professor Spurlin has also co-edited, with Jarrod Hayes and Margaret R. Higonnet, Comparatively Queer: Interrogating Identities across Time and Cultures (2010), and he has written extensively on postcolonial/queer theory, African studies, queer translation studies, modern and contemporary comparative literature, and the biomedicalisation of sexuality in more than 50 essays in international journals and as chapters in volumes, most recently in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Holocaust Studies (forthcoming 2020), Journal of Medical Humanities (2018), Queer in Translation (2017), Research in African Literatures (2016), The Future of Postcolonial Studies (2015), Comparative Literature Studies (2014), and Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (2013). He is currently writing a book on representations of sexual dissidence in new queer francophone life writing from the Maghreb. Professor Spurlin has given invited lectures on his work in queer Holocaust studies across New Zealand at universities, the Auckland Museum, and the National Library in Wellington sponsored by the New Zealand Holocaust Centre. He has given invited lectures in queer studies, postcolonial studies, and translation studies around the world in English and in French, most recently in South Africa, China, Australia, and across Europe and North America. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. For the outstanding contribution of his research in queer studies to social science scholarship, Professor Spurlin has been named a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (2017) and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2016) in recognition of exceptional leadership and scholarship in teaching. Professor Spurlin's interdisciplinary research in queer studies, postcolonial studies, and critical/cultural theory encompasses the analysis of a broad range of literary, cultural, and critical texts ranging from the fin de siècle through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Trained in comparative literature and critical theory, the texts with which he works cross national, geographic, and linguistic borders and include not only British and American texts, but those located within francophone and Germanic cultures, southern Africa, and the wider African diaspora. His recent work, particularly his book Imperialism within the Margins: Queer Representation and the Politics of Culture in Southern Africa (2006), funded by the US National Endowment for the Humanities and a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Cape Town, has contributed to the formulation new theoretical thinking at the nexus of postcolonial and queer enquiry. His latest monograph, Lost Intimacies: Rethinking Homosexuality under National Socialism (2009), builds on his postcolonial work by focusing specifically on the interwar period, marked by the decline of European imperialism in the colonies and the simultaneous rise of totalitarianism within Europe, especially German fascism. This book examines the racialisation of homosexuality in another racist regime, that of National Socialism, which was also underwritten by a politics of gender and eugenics in a similar, but not reducible, way that it was under colonialism and apartheid in South Africa, and within some forms of postcolonial nationalism in Africa and elsewhere that continue to racialise homosexuality as a vestige of empire. This project was supported by a one-year sabbatical in 2004 whilst at Cardiff University and by a research grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). His recent monograph project Contested Borders: Queer Politics and Cultural Translation in Contemporary Francophone Writing from the Maghreb, published in 2022 by Rowman & Littlefield, analyses how writers such as Rachid O., Eyet-Chekib Djaziri, Abdellah Taia, and Nina Bouraoui foreground translation and narrative reflexivity around incommensurable spaces of queerness in order to index their crossings of negotiations of multiple languages, histories, and cultures, alongside crossings of gender and sexuality. By writing in French, the book argues that the writers are not merely mimicking the language of their former coloniser, but inflecting a European language with discursive turns of phrase indigenous to North Africa, thus creating new possibilities of meaning and expression to name their lived experiences of gender and sexual alterity--a form of (queer) translational practice that destabilises received gender/sexual categories both within the Maghreb and in Europe. Professor Spurlin has published over sixty essays in queer studies, postcolonial studies, African studies, feminist theory, and comparative literature and culture. His work has been instrumental in formulating the new discipline of queer translation studies, especially through guest-editing, by invitation, a special issue of the journal Comparative Literature Studies in 2014 on the gender and sexual politics of translation. He has given invited lectures on his work in France; most recently at Univ de Paris XIII, at the Centre d' Études des Discours, Images, Textes, Écrits, et Communications at Univ de Paris XII, at the College International de Philosophie, and at the Sorbonne, as well as in South Africa, Singapore, China, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, across North America, and in other parts of the world. Professor Spurlin has also lectured in medical/clinical contexts on queer theory and biomedical practice at NHS Trust-funded symposia on sexual health, and in medical research centres and hospitals, on topics pertaining to the cultural politics of biomedicine and sexuality, STIs, and HIV/AIDS care. He chaired the Comparative Gender Studies Committee at the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) from 2010-2016, and he was a member of the ICLA Executive Council from 2010-2022. He served as an appointed member of the Peer Review College of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) from 2007-2016, and has served on the boards of several academic journals. For the outstanding contribution of his scholarship to social science research and thinking, Professor Spurlin was nominated and named a Fellow of the British Academy for the Social Sciences (FAcSS) in 2017. Professor Spurlin's research has also addressed critically the pedagogical situation from the perspectives of cultural studies and queer theory. This work includes an edited volume Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English: Positions, Pedagogies, and the Politics of Culture (2000) and an invited guest editorship of a special issue of the American journal College English on 'Lesbian and Gay Studies: Queer Pedagogies' in 2002. Both works attempt to engage (queer) difference(s) as a means of enabling radical re-readings of the public space of the classroom through which to envision more participatory spheres of critical deliberation. He continues to remain interested in, and dedicated to, this work both as a teacher and as a public intellectual, and he is especially concerned about the role of the humanities and queer studies in academic and public life. Professor Spurlin was named Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in 2009 for excellence in teaching. In 2016, he was awarded Principal Fellow (PFHEA), the most senior level of Fellowship conferred by the Academy, for his exceptional record of strategic leadership in teaching at institutional level, in the UK higher education sector, and internationally for the global reach and breadth of his published scholarship in queer pedagogy, which has influenced teaching practices worldwide evident through its sustained and continued international citation and review. Queer studies Gender studies Postcolonial studies (with an emphasis on gender, queer, and/or Africa) Critical theory African or African-American studies Comparative literature or translation (with an emphasis on gender or queer) Diaspora/migration/border studies (with in an emphasis on gender or queer) 20th century/modernist/postmodernist literatures/cultures Postgraduate Teaching Queer Theory Undergraduate Teaching Modern & Contemporary Lesbian Literature World Literature Modern Texts & Contexts