Dr Nicole Graham

I received a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Kent (2007) and an MA in Theology from the University of Exeter (2011). I then took a hiatus from my studies and had a career in HR for a number of years. I returned to academia in 2017 and was awarded a PhD from the University of Kent (2021) for my thesis: Laughing Bodies: An Exploration of Laughter as a Means of Insight. Before joining King’s in 2022, I was an Associate Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and was also previously an Online Tutor at the University of Edinburgh.

Research interests and PhD supervision 

• Humour and Religion
• Ethics
• Blasphemy
• Religion and Gender

My research problematises the tendency in scholarship within theology and religious studies to privilege seriousness and, as a result, exclude anything that is deemed to be ‘non-serious’ from its purview. I challenge the marginalisation, and representations, of the body as a site for the creation of knowledge and understanding. My current research explores how comedy can offer an effective means of shifting our perspective by challenging and changing our vision of the world.

Selected publications

Graham, N. (2022) “Opponent or Advocate?: Exploring Clement of Alexandria’s Attitude(s) Towards Laughter”, in Dijkstra, R. and van der Velde, P. (eds.) Humour in the Beginning: Cultural Interaction of Laughter and the Comic in the First Phase of Asian religions, Christianity and Islam. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 47-62. 

Graham, N. (2020) “Laughing With ’Horrible’ People: Reaffirming Ethical Boundaries Through Laughter”, in Benko, S. (ed.) Ethics in Comedy: Essays on Crossing the Line. Jefferson: McFarland, pp. 210-222.

Teaching

I currently teach a range of undergraduate ethics modules.

Expertise and public engagement

I am the Media Officer for the Humour and Religion Network.