One of my key fascinations as an academic is the role of the monster within culture, both as a allegorical symbol, but also a representative of the ‘other’ or the ‘outside’ within narratives. Following the work of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen among many others, the figure of the monster (in its many forms) stands as a discursive figure of the unfamiliar, able to represent or offer ways for cultures to understand or perceive the world through their very difference. [1]
As part of my research on monsters and monstrosity, I have touched upon and explored a variety of different ideas including Monster Theory, Ecocriticism, Object Orientated Ontology and even Cryptozoology. Alongside this, I have also worked across a variety of different textual forms and cultural historical contexts. This includes writing on the cultural tradition of the vampire in Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuqurque’s American Vampire comic books [2] , as well as the role of the ecomonstrous within the transnational cultural figure of Godzilla [3].
My research in this area has also been shown at several conferences including the Transitions 7 Conference at Birkbeck, University of London in 2016, The New Perspectives on Horror, Science Fiction & the Monstrous Onscreen at De Montfort University in 2018 and The Fates of Frankenstein Conference at Edinburgh Napier University in 2018.
If you have any questions about my research, or would just simply like to add me to your research network, please feel free to get in touch!
[1] Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, ‘Monster Culture: Seven Theses’ in Monster Theory, ed. by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen (London: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), pp. 3-25 (pp. 20).
[2] Craig Thomson, ”Homo Abominum Americana’: The Cultural Tradition of the Vampire in Snyder and Albuqurque’s American Vampire (2010), U.S. Studies Online: Forum for New Writing, 2017 <https://www.baas.ac.uk/usso/homo-abominum-americana-the-cultural-tradition-of-the-vampire-in-snyder-and-albuquerques-american-vampire-2010/> [accessed 30 May 2020]
[3] Craig Thomson, ‘Godzilla’, Science Fiction Theatre, ed. by Graham Ainsley (London: Science Fiction Theatre, 2018), pp. 28-29 (p. 29)
Monstrous Folklore - Werewolves and the 19th Century 