Dr Evangeline Tsao
Associate Lecturer

Profile

Biography

• Gender and sexuality
• Visual methodologies
• Feminist theory
• Critical pedagogy

I am an associate lecturer in Sociology and Women’s Studies. My main research and teaching interests are: research methodologies, especially participatory visual methods; art-based research; theories of gender and sexuality; feminist arts and activism; popular culture and representation; critical pedagogy.

I completed my BA in Foreign Languages and Literature (National Tsing Hua University) in 2008, continued to work as an English tutor and an administrator in Taiwan before joining the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York, as a master’s student in 2010. With an interest in photography and its application in social research, in my MA dissertation, I examined the relationship between women’s clothing and identity with self-directed photography. This laid the groundwork for my doctoral project in which I applied auto-photography – a participatory visual method that incorporated self-photography, journaling and interviews – to explore the ways women understood and experienced their embodied sexual desire. This research also developed my interests and ideas around meanings of activism, ‘empowerment’, feminist art and representation. I received my PhD in Women’s Studies from York in 2016.

I am passionate about teaching. I have experience of providing student welfare support and teaching in Higher Education – both UG and PG – as well as at high school level. I worked as a college welfare tutor from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, I achieved the status of Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. My teaching practice informs my research into critical pedagogy and how to incorporate diversity into curriculum.

Research

Overview

My main research interests are:

• Visual methodologies
• Gender and sexuality
• Feminist theory
• Popular culture and representation
• Critical pedagogy

Projects

• Effective transition: approaching a successful MA through the internationalization of curriculum
  funded by the University’s Teaching Committee

Previous projects

• York Pedagogy
  funded by the University’s Teaching Committee
• Photographing Desire: Exploring Women’s Sexuality through Auto-photography
  funded by Taiwan (ROC) Government’s PhD Research Grant and University of York Scholarships for Overseas Students

Teaching

Undergraduate

I have been involved in the teaching activities in Women’s Studies since 2012, and in Sociology since 2015. I contribute to the postgraduate teaching at the Centre for Women’s Studies, and I am currently teaching Social Research Methods and Popular Culture, Media and Society in the Department of Sociology.