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matthewsjemima

Dr Jemima Matthews

Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature

Biography

Before joining King’s as a Teaching Fellow in 2016, Jemima taught at the University of Kent, on the ‘Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama’ module, ‘Early Modern Literature’ module, ‘Early Drama’ module and ‘Marriage, Desire & Divorce in Early Modern Literature’ module; at Queen Mary, on the ‘Shakespeare’ module; at the University of Nottingham, on the ‘Crime, Conscience and Correction 1603-1700’ module, the ‘Resistance and Obedience: Literature 1485-1625’ module, the ‘Shakespeare’s Histories’ module, the ‘Studying Literature’ survey course; and at Birkbeck as a visiting lecturer on the ‘Milton and Civil War England’ module.

Jemima completed her BA in English Language and Literature at St Anne’s College, Oxford. She studied for an MA in ‘Shakespeare Studies’ at King’s College London, followed by an AHRC-funded PhD on the river Thames between 1550 and 1650 at the University of Nottingham.

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

  • Early modern literary geographies
  • Early modern London
  • Early modern drama and site specific performance
  • Water studies
  • Material culture and memory studies

Jemima’s doctoral thesis explored the river Thames on and off the stage and page between 1550 and 1650. Her research includes poetry, prose, drama, and a broad range of archival records. Jemima is currently preparing her monograph Habitat and Habitation: The River Thames 1550 to 1650 for publication. Challenging the divide between riverine texts and contexts in new ways, this study unsettles the distinction between written and physical geographies.

Jemima’s interdisciplinary research combines archival work with an approach shaped by disciplines such as cultural geography. Her research continues to focus on literary geographies and falls into three broad categories. She explores how place and mobility shaped early modern landscape writing, she continues to be interested in the material culture surrounding writing and performance in early modern London, and her work contributes to the emerging field of water studies.

For more details, please see her full research profile.

Teaching

Jemima teaches a range of undergraduate modules relating to early modern literature and early modern drama.

Expertise and Public Engagement

At Nottingham Jemima set up the interdisciplinary Landscape, Space, Place reading group and was an active member of the Landscape, Space and Place research group founded by Professor Julie Sanders (English) and Professor Steve Daniels (Geography).

Jemima has been an invited speaker at the Early Modern Exchanges Seminar Series, UCL and the London Shakespeare Seminar series. In 2016 Jemima organised a seminar on ‘Space, Memory and Transformation in Early Modern Literature’ with Dr Laurence Publicover (University of Bristol) at the Shakespeare Association of America conference in New Orleans.

Jemima helped to set up and implement Scribe a workshop programme which used manuscripts to help improve literacy in local primary schools. Scribe was a collaborative project between the University of Nottingham, Lakeside Arts and the Special Collections at the University.

Research

Globe
Shakespeare Centre London

Devoted to research, learning and teaching in Shakespeare and early modern literature and drama - in partnership with Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

King's Water Centre Web Banner
King's Water Centre

Researching water, environment and development. Our centre spans the humanities, social, and physical sciences to explore the challenges of water governance from global to local scales.

News

Deep dive into the 2023 King's Artists Programme

As this year's King’s Artists programme concludes, discover more about this year's 6-month research and development collaborations, supported by King's Culture

King's Artists Final Composite

Six new collaborations launched as part of King's Artists programme

Artists-in-residence will collaborate with academics to explore imaginative approaches to research.

composite image 6 tiles representing king's artists projects, from top left to bottom right a wooden box, a pro-choice protest, illustration of soundwaves, anatomy drawing, cyanotype portrait and an artwork with green plants

Research

Globe
Shakespeare Centre London

Devoted to research, learning and teaching in Shakespeare and early modern literature and drama - in partnership with Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

King's Water Centre Web Banner
King's Water Centre

Researching water, environment and development. Our centre spans the humanities, social, and physical sciences to explore the challenges of water governance from global to local scales.

News

Deep dive into the 2023 King's Artists Programme

As this year's King’s Artists programme concludes, discover more about this year's 6-month research and development collaborations, supported by King's Culture

King's Artists Final Composite

Six new collaborations launched as part of King's Artists programme

Artists-in-residence will collaborate with academics to explore imaginative approaches to research.

composite image 6 tiles representing king's artists projects, from top left to bottom right a wooden box, a pro-choice protest, illustration of soundwaves, anatomy drawing, cyanotype portrait and an artwork with green plants