Charlotte Ireland

Charlotte Ireland

Department of English Literature
Doctoral researcher

Contact details

PhD titleThe Diversifying, Politicising and Maturing of Anglophone Chick Lit Alongside Changing Feminist Ideologies and Genre Fluidity 
Supervisors
Dr Dorothy ButchardDr Amy Burge and Professor Deborah Longworth
PhD English Literature

Qualifications

  • BA English Literature at Nottingham Trent University
  • MRes English Literary Research at Nottingham Trent University

Teaching

Modules contributed to:
• Women’s Writing (University of Birmingham, UG)
• English in the World (University of Birmingham, UG)
• Evolutions of Popular Literature (University of Birmingham, MA)
• Academic Writing (Nottingham Trent University, UG/PG)

Research

My research focuses on the diversifying, politicising and maturing of Anglophone chick lit alongside changing feminist ideologies and genre fluidity. I compare 1990s precursor, popular chick lit novels with newer works in the franchise, exploring to what extent chick lit themes have adapted as the protagonist has matured and feminist theories have shifted. I also compare these precursor works with new emerging women writers, identifying a new strand of genre fluid, diverse, fourth-wave feminist “chick lit.” My research not only demonstrates chick lit’s value in being zeitgeist and political, but also highlights discriminations experienced by women due to their gender, age, race, ethnicity and/or sexual orientation.

Other activities

Alongside research and teaching, I also co-run Romance Reading Group - an interdisciplinary, postgraduate-led reading group based at University of Birmingham. I co-organised, co-chaired and presented at the IASPR 2020 Digital Forum, and gave papers and chaired at the PCA conferences in 2021 and 2022. I co-hosted a BUCU Teach Out event and regularly tutor KS1-GCSE students. In Summer 2022, I was employed by University of Birmingham as a research assistant for Dr. Amy Burge. I am a member of many research groups and networks, including but not limited to: Popular Culture Association (PCA), The British Association for Contemporary Literary Studies (BACLS) and Contemporary Women’s Writing Association (CWWA).