20 Questions for SHaCademics – Professor Karen Harvey

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1. What is your role within the History department? I am a Professorial Fellow and Professor of Cultural History. I teach, research and contribute to the administration of both those things for myself and others.

2. What are your research interests? The early modern world, specifically the eighteenth-century British.

3. Where did you study (UG, PGT, PGR etc.)? Manchester and Royal Holloway, University of London.

4. Did you always know you wanted to go to university or in to academia? No. I was the first person in my family to stay on at school post-16, let alone go to university. University only took shape as option for me in the final year of my GCSEs, when teachers suggested it. I decided to do an MA in the final year of my UG degree. I decided to do a PhD while doing my MA. It was only during my PhD that I thought academia was a career I might pursue.

5. How long did it take and how did you manage to fund and complete your PhD? My PhD was funded by the AHRC and took three years.

6. What was your PhD on? The body in eighteenth-century British erotic writing.

7. What are you working on at the moment?  The body in eighteenth-century British letters. (I’ve worked on things other than the body in between!) I’ve read thousands of letters by ordinary men and women and am interested in their embodied experiences, and in how they talk about that.

8. What made you want to become a lecturer/academic? Inspiring role models. And the challenge, the satisfaction, the autonomy and the variety of the job.

9. Name three books/films/podcasts you recommend to read/watch/listen to during lockdown.

  • Film: Rear Window (1954; Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
  • Book: Bernadine Evaristo, Girl. Woman. Other (2019)
  • TV: Unorthodox (2020)

10. What is the most historically inaccurate film or scene you have watched or read?  The shopping scene in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film, Marie Antoinette. Closely followed by the rabbits in Yorgos Lanthimos’s 2019 film, The Favourite. No one had Converse in the eighteenth century (or punk) and Queen Anne did not keep rabbits. But these directors use historical inaccuracies beautifully to create two of my favourite historical films. I’m interested in creating historically authentic films, and that can be done with historical inaccuracies.

11. Are you staying physically active during lockdown? If so, how, and do you suggest anything? I run up and down hills (I live in Sheffield where a flat run is impossible).

12. Do you have any pets? If so, what? (Pictures encouraged!) Two teenagers.

13. What is your favourite film or TV series?  I adore film and good TV drama but there are too many to name, here. Some would be Six Feet Under; Breaking Bad; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; The Philadelphia Story  and High Society; and Dancer in the Dark (I love musicals and this one with Byörk is a dark gem).

14. Do you have a favourite band/album/genre of music? If so, what?  All sorts. My Dad introduced me to classical music, some of which touches me deeply. But generally I like upbeat music that invites the listener to dance. For me that’s usually funk, disco and Latin music. My most precious albums would be Michael Jackson Off the Wall or Prince Sign ‘O’ The Times.

15. Do you have any unusual links or claims to fame? I aimed an eighteenth-century pistol at the head of my PhD supervisor.  I also make very good banana bread…

16. What skill would you one day like to master? Tango or ballet.

17. What takes up too much of your time? Email.

18. What songs have you completely memorized?  Too many. Pass me the mic and I’ll show you.

19. What advice would you give to your younger self? You know you can do this, don’t you?

20. Do you have any top tips for academic work/study for our students? Work out what you think and why.