James Mansell
Lecturer in Cultural Studies, Faculty of Arts
Contact
Biography
I joined the Department of Culture, Film and Media at the University of Nottingham in September 2010 having previously taught in History at the University of Manchester. I hold a PhD in History (2009) and an MA in Cultural History (2005) from the University of Manchester. Between 2008 and 2010 I was facilitator of the Leverhulme Trust-funded international research network 'Relating Identities: Locality, Region, Nation and Empire in Modern European History'.
Expertise Summary
I am a cultural historian of twentieth-century Britain with research interests in perception and the senses, particularly hearing. My work examines aurality in everyday life, in literary and cinematic representation, and in cultural and intellectual change. I am currently completing a monograph, provisionally entitled Sound and Selfhood in Early Twentieth-Century Britain, for inclusion in the University of Illinois Press book series 'Studies in Sensory History'. This book examines the relationship between everyday experiences of sound and the reconfiguration of the social self in early twentieth-century Britain, paying close attention to the new forms of aural expertise which emerged in reaction to the modern soundscape of mechanisation, total war and mass culture.
My work in this area led me to an interest in the soundtracks of 1930s and 1940s documentary films, particularly those of the EMB, GPO and Crown Film Units. I have co-edited, with Scott Anthony, The Projection of Britain: A History of the GPO Film Unit (BFI Books/Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) as well as a special issue of Twentieth Century British History (Oxford University Press) on 'The Documentary Film Movement and the Spaces of British Identity' (2012).
Among my other current research interests is the influence of the Theosophical Society and modern esotericism more generally on the development of artistic modernism and modern thought. Along with Helena Capkova (Chelsea College of Art and Design), Professor Rachel Cowgill (Cardiff University), Dr Christopher Scheer (Utah State University) and Dr Sarah Victoria Turner (University of York), I am developing an international research network on the theme of 'Enchanting Modernity: Theosophy and the Arts in the Making of Early Twentieth-Century Culture'. The network held its first meeting at Liverpool Hope University in December 2010.
I have presented papers at a wide variety of international conferences, including most recently 'Writing Space' at Stony Brook University, New York, and 'Hearing Modern History: Auditory Cultures in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries' at Free University Berlin. My research has been reported by a variety of news media, including a feature on BBC News in 2007.
Teaching Summary
My undergraduate teaching currently includes 'Cultures of Everyday Life' (Year 1); 'Cultural Politics' (Year 2); and 'Auditory Cultures' (Final Year).
My office hours in semester 1 2011/12 are Tuesdays 1.30-2.30pm and Wednesdays 10.30-11.30am.
Recent Publications