University of Kent

Graduate Student, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research

Postgraduate Research Student Representative // Assistant Lecturer

SSPSSR

Thesis Title: 'Little vast rooms of undoing': Exploring identity and embodiment through public toilets

About

My PhD is an exploration of sensory-embodied identity in which I challenge dominant conceptions of the 'individual' put forth by the Western philosophical tradition, social constructionism, and postmodernism.

I use Norbert Elias' homo clausus (closed person) and homines aperti (people opened) as a framework for elucidating the experiences of individuals within society and introduce a Latin neologism - corpora infinita (boundless bodies) - to push his project further via a posthumanist-materialist lens.

In order to focus explicitly on individual experiences of sensory-embodiment, in Anglo-American contexts, I have chosen a universal daily practice that necessarily implicates the body within society: public toileting. My empirical research focuses on gender-segregated public toileting experiences of men, women, gender non-conforming, and trans individuals (who have a range of sexual identities). My investigation takes the form of nearly 50 semi-structured interviews and over 200 'toilet use' surveys, completed in New York City, London and South East England.

Experiences within public toilets expose the fissures of individual identity construction/understanding according to both homo clausus and homines aperti, as well as, reveal an opportunity for the re-conceptualization of embodied identity as corpus infinitum.

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My research is funded by a University of Kent, SSPSSR Departmental Scholarship.

Before coming to Kent, I attended the Gallatin School of Individualized study at New York University where I graduated magna cum laude and concentrated in sound and embodiment. My senior colloquium was titled: Music, Metaphysics, and the Conscious Life: How sound has shaped nations and made lives

I'm passionate about movement, awareness, energy work, and contemporary performance.

In 2011-12 I'm part of a collaborative project called 'Queer, the Space' which takes the form of a response to The Centre for Creative Collaboration by activists, artists, and academics. Organised by Dr Emily Jeremiah, School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures (Royal Holloway); Dr Sarah Barnsley, Department of English and Comparative Literature (Goldsmiths)
For more info: http://www.queerthespace.org/

In 2011 myself and two colleagues won a grant from the British Sociological Association to organize a postgraduate conference. The one-day event entitled, The Body: Exploring Culture and Research, was held at the University of Kent in late October.

In 2011-12 I am leading seminars at all undergraduate levels. The courses are Modern Culture, Contemporary Culture, and Cultures of Embodiment.

In 2010-11 I led seminars for Studying Modern Culture and Studying Contemporary (Postmodern) Culture - both first year Cultural Studies modules.

In 2009-10 I led seminars for two modules. Cultures of Embodiment, an interdisciplinary module for second and third year students and Studying Modern Culture, a first year Cultural Studies module.

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