Associate ProfessorJan Shaw

Border Geographies: Imagining the borderlands of Medieval Britain. Developed in collaboration with the University of Bristol, this project examines identity formation in the borderland communities of medieval Britain. It considers how medieval people used imaginary borderland spaces to think through ideas about hybrid communities and identities, and further, how such negotiations influenced medieval people’s sense of themselves and their communities in the wider world.

Women and leadership in late Middle English romance. This project explores the representation of women and leadership in fifteenth-century English prose romance. It examines how these texts construct gendered identity and how these identities play out differently as leadership narratives. It seeks to open up questions about how medieval people understood leadership, as distinct from rule, and how they imagined women could function effectively as leaders.