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Miriam, MA in Cultures of Empire Alex, MA in Film and Literature‌ Emily, MA in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture Ellen, MA in Medieval Literatures‌ Simon, MA in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture‎ Catherine, PhD James, MA in Modern Literature and Culture‌ Sarah, MA in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture Hedley, PhD Camilla, MA in Renaissance Literature, 1500-1700‎ Lavanya, MA in Cultures of Empire  Kirby, MA in Modern Literature and Culture  Inderjit, MA in Renaissance Literature, 1500-1700 Claire, MA in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture and PhD Judith, MA in Modern Literature and Culture ‎ Abigail, MA in Medieval English Literatures  Alex, MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture‌ AnnaMaria, PhD in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies‌ Jenny, MA in Victorian Literature and Culture‌ Leigh, MA in Renaissance Literature, 1500-1700‌ Lucy, MA in Poetry and Poetics Laura, PhD Marie, PhD‌ Tom, MA in Film and Literature‌ Richard Lukey, MA in English Literary Studies

Hedley, PhD

Hedley, PhD 

I came to York for the Masters in Cultures of Empire and Resistance, attracted by the superb opportunities it offered for comparative study, and decided to stay on when I found the department such a relaxed and welcoming one. It was the ideal place to re-enter academic life after an absence of several years, and I have greatly appreciated being able to do this on my own terms and at my own pace.

My primary research interest lies in the literatures of Southern Africa, in particular the forms of the colonial encounter at the Cape of Good Hope, and the relationship between early settler accounts – Dutch East India Company archives, exploration narratives and natural history writing about the Cape Colony – and the later fictions of writers like Olive Schreiner, Rudyard Kipling, André Brink, Antjie Krog, Stephen Watson and J. M. Coetzee.

Since coming to York I have also become very interested in visions and versions of the postcolonial city, not to mention the history of Johannesburg jazz, the word music of migrant Basotho miners and the intricacies of the Zulu masakanda guitar style! In the last two years I have been taught and supervised by two of the foremost “South Africanists” in professors Derek Attridge and David Attwell (both renowned for their work on Coetzee). They have involved me in several very interesting projects beyond the immediate scope of my doctorate, and have been helpful and supportive throughout.