Dr Sarah Ilott
Senior Lecturer, MA English Studies
My name is Dr Sarah Ilott and I am a Senior Lecturer in English and Film, a Co-Lead for the Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies and a member of the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies. Externally, I am on the organising team of the comedy and gender research network Mixed Bill, and am a member of the Postcolonial Studies Association. I am also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Departmental Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within the university.
My research and teaching interests are in postcolonialism and popular literature and culture, with expertise in comedy and the gothic. As a Postcolonialist, my love of researching popular cultural forms, such as comedy and the gothic, stems from a desire to open up important debates around national identity, systemic racism and structural inequality.
My research and teaching interests are in postcolonialism and popular literature and culture, with expertise in comedy and the gothic.
What are the themes of your current research project?
I am currently writing a book entitled Screening Multicultural Britain: Race, Racism and British Comedy. This project aims to identify, analyse and critique the ways in which screen comedy from 1958 to the present has informed debates over British multiculturalism. My research demonstrates how popular ideas about the functioning and management of ethno-cultural diversity in Britain have been engaged through comedy, which can support or challenge dominant political discourses.
My research argues that selected screen comedies can be read as counter-narratives on British multiculturalism, exposing the implied (and often racist) assumptions of multicultural discourse. For example:
- Certain crimes are racialised
- Inter-ethnic romance spells hope for the future
- The black neighbour is inherently threatening
- ‘British values’ are threatened by ethnic and cultural minorities
- Britain is post-racial and/or colour blind
Individual chapters in my book engage with these debates through representations of multicultural Britain in the context of policing, romance, the neighbourhood, beliefs and bodies.
This project aims to identify, analyse and critique the ways in which screen comedy from 1958 to the present has informed debates over British multiculturalism.
How does your project relate to postgraduate study?
In the MA English Studies unit ‘Narrating the Nation’, we study comedy texts such as the TV series ‘Man Like Mobeen’, ‘We Are Lady Parts’ and the comedic memoir ‘Love in a Headscarf’. This enables discussions about how the medium of comedy can work to challenge expectations, subvert power hierarchies and engage with social taboos around multiculturalism. My research directly supports teaching on this module, which focuses on twenty-first century Britain in the context of encroaching nationalisms, also drawing on myself and teaching colleagues’ expertise from the Centre for Migration and Postcolonial Studies.
My research directly supports teaching on this module, which focuses on twenty-first century Britain in the context of encroaching nationalisms.
How does your research influence the study of multiculturalism in today’s society?
The study of race, anti-racism, and multiculturalism is increasingly pressing in the wake of a global upsurge in nationalisms, racism and Islamophobia. My research looks to contextualise contemporary British multiculture through a longer history of colonialism and postcolonial migration. Through exploring cultural texts produced in the post-war period, we can identify the shifting (or unshifting) attitudes to those racialised as ‘Other’ in relation to constructions of Britishness.
How can students get involved with research projects?
I’ve created internships for students to get involved in research for past projects and am looking to do this again with future opportunities. The long-term aim of my project is to share my findings with a wider community of learners, and I hope to be recruiting research associates (ideally from current postgraduate students) to support this.
I have also previously worked with HOME and interviewed contemporary directors including Ian Iqbal Rashid and Gurinder Chadha. I hope to continue to create a space for these events within our university and give students the chance to get involved where possible.