I am a Lecturer in English Literature and Film. My research specialisms are in postcolonial literature, contemporary British literature, TV, and film, and genre studies (particularly comedy and the gothic). My publications in this area include the monograph New Postcolonial British Genres: Shifting the Boundaries (Palgrave, 2015) and edited collections Telling it Slant: Critical Approaches to Helen Oyeyemi (co-edited with Chloe Buckley; Sussex Academic Press, 2017), New Directions in Diaspora Studies (co-edited with Ana Cristina Mendes and Lucinda Newns; Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), and Comedy and the Politics of Representation: Mocking the Weak (co-edited with Helen Davies; Palgrave, 2018). I have also written for many leading academic journals, including The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing, and Postcolonial Text, and also for the media outlet The Conversation. At the moment I am working on a project that explores the representation of British multiculturalism in screen comedies since the 1970s.
I teach at all levels of the undergraduate programme, on units including Approaches to Narrative, Film, Genre and Mode, and Cinema and Nation.
My love of teaching goes hand-in-hand with my belief in the importance of understanding colonialism and its aftermath, especially the important role that literature has played in both colonisation and decolonisation. I believe that a humanities education encourages a desire for knowledge and understanding about the world, which leads to mutual respect. I want to train students to read critically, a skill that is so important in today's political climate.
Approach your studies with a passion, your texts with a critical mind, and your books with a pencil!
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Lancaster University (2014)
PhD in English Literature. Lancaster University (2013)
MA in Contemporary Literature. Lancaster University (2009)
BA (Hons) in English Literature. Lancaster University (2008)
Senior Research Lecturer in English Studies. Teesside University (2015-17)
Senior Lecturer in English Studies. Teesside University (2014-15)
Visiting Lecturer in English Literature. University of Birmingham (2013)
Associate Lecturer in English Literature. Lancaster University (2009-14)
MA English Programme Leader. Teesside University (2016-17)
Studying English enables you to develop your critical thinking, writing and presentation skills, enabling you to go into a variety of careers and to approach the world with a questioning mind.
Currently Teaching:
Previously Taught:
Previously Taught:
I am interested in supervising doctoral projects on any aspect of postcolonial British literature or cinema. I am also open to applications for doctoral dissertations on the subjects of postcolonial gothic or comedy and the politics of representation.
PhD Supervision
External examiner for MA by research (University of New South Wales, 2016).
H. Davies, S. Ilott (2018). Comedy and the Politics of Representation Mocking the Weak. Palgrave Macmillan.
S. Ilott, AC. Mendes, L. Newns (2018). New Directions in Diaspora Studies Cultural and Literary Approaches. Rowman & Littlefield International.
C. Buckley, S. Ilott (2017). Telling It Slant Critical Approaches to Helen Oyeyemi. CA. Buckley. Sussex Academic Press.
S. Ilott (2015). New Postcolonial British Genres Shifting the Boundaries. Palgrave Macmillan.
SE. Ilott (2018). “How is these kids meant to make it out the ghetto now?” Community cohesion and communities of laughter in British multicultural comedy. Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 53(2), pp.211-222.
H. Davies, S. Ilott (2018). Gender, sexuality and the body in comedy: performance, reiteration, resistance. Comedy Studies. 9(1), pp.2-5.
S. Ilott (2017). British Asian diasporic writing: construction and representation of identities. South Asian Diaspora. 9(1), pp.99-104.
S. Ilott (2017). Writing British Muslims: religion, class and multiculturalism. SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORA. 9(1), pp.99-104.
S. Ilott (2017). Writing the city in British Asian diasporas. SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORA. 9(1), pp.99-104.
S. Ilott (2016). Contemporary fictions of multiculturalism: diversity and the millennial London novel. Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 52(1), pp.122-123.
S. Ilott (2014). “We are here to speak the unspeakable”: voicing abjection in Raj Kamal Jha’sFireproof. Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 50(6), pp.664-674.
S. Ilott (2014). Generic frameworks and active readership inThe Reluctant Fundamentalist. Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 50(5), pp.571-583.
L. Ng, MH. Khan, PK. Saucier, CL. Joseph, J. Pool, et al. B. Mangalam, M. Krishnan, S. Ilott, D. Hrzán. (2014). Book Reviews. Interventions. 16(2), pp.277-296.
. Sarah Ilott (2014). The Modern Language Review. 109(4), pp.1054-1054.
S. Ilott (2021). Gothic Multiculturalism. In: The Cambridge History of the Gothic: Volume 3, Gothic in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries Volume 3: Gothic in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. Cambridge University Press,
S. Ilott (2020). Racism that Grins: Gothic Realism and Systemic Critique. In: Jordan Peele’s Get Out: Political Horror. Ohio State University Press,
S. Ilott (2020). Zadie Smith’s Narratives of the Absurd. In: Reading Contemporary Black British and African American Women Writers. Routledge, pp.161-177.
NA. Salmon, F. Gumbmann (2019). Front Matter: Volume 11164. NA. Salmon, F. Gumbmann. In: Telling It Slant: Critical Approaches to Helen Oyeyemi. SPIE,
S. Ilott (2019). Gothic and the Short Story. In: The Edinburgh Companion to Gothic and the Arts. Edinburgh University Press,
S. Ilott (2019). Postcolonial Gothic. In: Twenty-First-Century Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh University Press,
S. Ilott, H. Davies (2018). Mocking the Weak? Contexts, Theories, Politics. In: Comedy and the Politics of Representation: Mocking the Weak. Palgrave,
SE. Ilott, AC. Mendes, L. Newns (2018). Introduction: New Directions, New Approaches. In: New Directions in Diaspora Studies: Cultural and Literary Approaches. Rowman & Littlefield,
S. Ilott (2018). Comedy and the Politics of Representation. H. Davies, S. Ilott. In: Comedy and the Politics of Representation: Mocking the Weak. Springer International Publishing,
A. Kanwal, S. Aslam (2018). The Routledge Companion to Pakistani Anglophone Writing. A. Kanwal, S. Aslam. In: Routledge Companion to Pakistani Anglophone Writing. Routledge, pp.94-105.
K. Niedderer, S. Clune, G. Ludden (2017). Design for Behaviour Change. K. Niedderer, S. Clune, G. Ludden. In: Design for Behaviour Change: Theories and Practices of Designing for Change. Routledge, pp.263-266.
SE. Ilott (2017). “The genesis of woman goes through the mouth”: Consumption, oral pleasure, and voice’. In: Telling it Slant: Critical Approaches to Helen Oyeyemi. Sussex Academic Press,
SE. Ilott Gothic Immigrations: Kentish Gothic and the Borders of Britishness. In: Gothic Britain: Dark Places in the Provinces and Margins of the British Isles. University of Wales Press,
SE. Ilott Subcultural Fiction and the Market for Multiculturalism. In: Popular Postcolonialisms: Discourses of Empire and Popular Culture. Routledge,
SE. Ilott Screening Multicultural Britain: Blair and British Asian Comedy. In: Histories on Screen: The Past and Present in Anglo-American Cinema and Television. Bloomsbury Academic,