Jenna Pitchford-Hyde

Dr Jenna Pitchford-Hyde joined the University of East Anglia in 2012. She is Associate Professor in Humanities in the Interdisciplinary Institute for Humanities, where she is currently Postgraduate Teaching Director for IIH and teaches on the HUM Foundation Year , BA Liberal Arts, and MA Gender Studies courses.

Jenna’s research focuses on contemporary war narratives in literature and media. She explores the military and post-military experience through a range of content analysis, audience response, and dialogical approaches (with military veterans) with particular interests in masculinity, technology, and disability studies.

• War and conflict in literature and media (20th and 21st century, especially addressing the Gulf and Iraq wars).
• Representations of veterans in literature, media, and the museum sector.
• Veteran-led research on representation of veterans and developing guidelines and policy for organisations (e.g. media, government, charities).
• Representation of identities in contemporary literature and media, especially in terms of masculinity, disability, and technology.
• Diversity and inclusivity in the media.

I am happy to consult with external organisations and supervise postgraduate work in any of the above areas.

Jenna convenes the ‘Literature and Humanities’ module, co-convenes an MA Gender Studies module ‘The Body, Gender, and Violence: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives’, and teaches undergraduate modules in Cultural Studies, Literature, and Research Methods.

Jenna's broader teaching interests include gender studies, media studies, and interdisciplinary literary and cultural studies, as well as 19^th, 20^th and 21st century British and American literature, especially postmodern literature; post-World War II conflict narratives (especially Vietnam, Cold War, Gulf and Iraq War, and 9/11 literature); gender and masculinity studies; queer theory; and critical theory.

Jenna has previously taught across a wide range of subject areas including Literature, American Studies, History, Cultural Studies, and Journalism.

She welcomes potential PhD candidates on the themes of gender, military identities, technology, and disability studies, in media and literature.

Jenna's research examines themes of identity, masculinity, technology, and disability with a focus on audience reception, as well as content analysis of a range of narrative forms.

Jenna is PI and Professor Katy Parry (University of Leeds) is Co-I on the Veterans and the Media Project which focuses on evaluating representations of veterans in media and culture, and works with organisations to achieve fair representation of veterans (Veterans and the Media Project).

Jenna has published on novels, memoir, poetry, film, television series, blogs, videogames, photography, art, and social media. Jenna has previously published on Iraqi responses to the 2003 Iraq War, trauma and videogames, African American identity, masculinity in literature of the Iraq wars, and representations of veterans in the media. 

Current projects include:

- A monograph entitled Masculinity and Identity in Contemporary War Fiction: US Representations in the Gulf and Iraq Wars (Routledge, forthcoming 2025).

- A collaborative journal article with Dr Katy Parry (University of Leeds) on the representation of Falklands and Northern Ireland veterans in museums (submitted and currently under review).

- A collaborative AHRC funded impact project with Professor Katy Parry (Univeristy of Leeds) focusing on representations of military veterans in the British media. Project title: ‘Where’s their story?’: Evaluating curatorial practice and audience reception of the new ‘Northern Ireland: Living with the Troubles’ exhibition at the IWM'.

 - A book chapter, “Why Balance is the Key to Wellbeing” for inclusion in the proposed collection on self-care in academia edited by Associate Professor Narelle Lemon.

Grants and Funding

2012: Peace and Conflict Studies Program Travel Bursary, Colgate University, New York State, US (£1000 to participate in the Wars Beyond War workshop).

2007: British Association for American Studies/ US Embassy Short Term Travel Award (£750 to conduct archival research into Persian Gulf War and Iraq War literature in the US).

2006: Nottingham Trent University Vice-Chancellor’s Award Doctoral Studentship (fully funded).

Jenna is Postgraduate Teaching Director for IIH . She is also academic adviser for undergraduate and MA students.

Jenna works on the IIH Exec team, the Extenuating Circumstances Panel, Exam Board, and is in IIH's Athena Swan Working Group.

Jenna worked with colleagues across the Faculty and ARM to develop a Widening Participation strategy for the Humanities Foundation Year.

Previously, she has co-ordinated a range of Faculty-wide outreach sessions and projects for Norfolk schools aimed at widening participation in Higher Education, including themed visit days, collaborative inter-institutional residential visits, on-going projects in local schools, subject brochures (aimed at year 9 students choosing their options for GCSE) and projects with local community groups.

Jenna also developed an outreach training programme for PhD students which was later rolled out to help train doctoral students in other Faculties.

Jenna is currently part of a team of academics who are developing the MeCCSA Disability Network to work on new interdisciplinary collaborative projects internationally.

In 2012, Jenna worked with colleagues on the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, Colgate University (NY), to establish an international interdisciplinary research network of scholars which challenges simplified definitions of contemporary conflict. The ‘Wars Beyond War’ research group is currently working on an online project addressing the future of warfare. The aim of this research is to engage the public in interdisciplinary discussions about the impact of contemporary warfare in sociological, political, and cultural terms.