Biography

As I child I grew up in a number of international contexts, most notably in Sierra Leone during the closing stages of the civil war. In these diverse settings I developed an awareness of the breadth and depth of gender-based injustice. I am completely dedicated in both my academic work and my practical activism to fighting sexism, particularly through disrupting the restrictive narratives we tell about masculinity and femininity. My main academic interests lie in the fields of theories of gender and sexuality and critical race theory. Within these areas I focus upon themes such as embodiment, spectacular politics, and the logics of hunger and desire. In this vein, my PhD in Gender Studies will examine spectacular acts of political violence committed against the self, and the narratives surrounding these acts of political self-sacrifice. I plan to focus on women who undertake such radical acts, with a specific focus on female hunger strikers. My thesis will explore the stories their ravaged bodies tell about politics, and what kinds of stories we tell about these bodies. I am particularly concerned with the powerful role discourse plays in shaping our beliefs about gender and sexuality, as evidenced in the international news media’s coverage of radical political acts. Hence, I hope that my work will challenge these dominant heteronormative discourses and find subversive, alternative readings of female political self-sacrifice.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge