Victoria Cann
  • 3.13 Arts and Humanities Building

Accepting PhD Students

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Personal profile

Biography

Dr Victoria (Tori) Cann's teaching, research and outreach interests lay in gender politics and feminist theory and she is particularly interested in feminist knowledge production. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Tori works across the humanities and social sciences, drawing a particular critical focus on culture as an underpinning topic of focus. As a teacher, Tori is keen for students to discover what they care about and to channel that passion into curiosity. As a working-class scholar, Tori is particularly keen to elevate voices underrepresented in the academy.

Tori's first book Girls Like This: Boys Like That was released with IB Tauris in 2018 and she has published chapters in edited collections and articles in journals such as Feminist Media Studies, Boyhood Studies, Girlhood Studies and Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies. She sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Gender Studies and Boyhood Studies and is an Executive Team member of the Gender and Education Association. In 2020 she became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Tori runs the MA in Gender Studies and is happy to answer any queries about the programme that you may have.

Career

  • Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Humanities, Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities, University of East Anglia, Sept 2020 – Present.
  • Lecturer in Humanities, Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities, University of East Anglia, Sept 2013 – Present.
  • Lecturer in Popular Culture, Department of English, Communication, Film and Media, Anglia Ruskin University, Spring 2013.
  • Lecturer in Politics and Media, School of Political, Social and International Studies, University of East Anglia Autumn, 2011.
  • Associate Tutor, School of Political, Social and International Studies, University of East Anglia, January 2010 – September 2013.
  • MA (with Distinction) Media and Cultural Politics; BA(hons) The Politics and Sociology of Contemporary Culture (First Class) – University of East Anglia

Areas of Expertise

Tori specialises in gender and youth, qualitative methods and feminist politics.

If you are considering a PhD or postdoc, Tori is happy to supervise projects related to:

  • Feminist Knowledge Production; including ethics and methodological design
  • Gender and Youth; including gender performance, girlhoods and boyhoods, trans and non-binary youth experiences, the (re)production of the gender binary, understandings of contemporary youth femininities and youth masculinities
  • Feminist Movements; especially contemporary feminist activism and/or the relationship between popular culture and feminism, but also keen to work on histories in joint-supervision contexts
  • Zines and DIY activist cultures; particularly those that advance understandings of resistance

Key Research Interests

Tori’s research interests are in the field of gender and identity during youth. She is particularly interested in how gender is reproduced through taste articulations and ideas of ‘appropriate’ performances of identity. She is an expert in qualitative research methods and feminist ethics.

Tori has published extensively in the field of feminist cultural studies and has acted as a consultant expert to organisations such as Plan UK and the Women's Equality Party.

Teaching Interests

Tori's teaching expertise is in the field of cultural studies. She primarily teaches Feminist Methodologies on the MA in Gender Studies and at Foundation Year level where students are introduced to research methodologies, key concepts in the humanities and study skills. She often provides guest lectures on the topic of feminism and gender studies on modules across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Tori is interested in supervising dissertations and research projects in the area of identity (particularly the intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality), feminism(s), cultural politics, and popular culture.

As a working-class scholar, Tori is especially committed to teaching and encouraging the learning of students from a diverse range of backgrounds, particularly those from under-represented and minoritised groups in higher education.

In 2015 Tori was awarded the UEA Excellence in Teaching Award and in 2020 she became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Administrative Posts

Course Director MA Gender Studies (2019 - present) 

Placement Officer (2018 - 2019)

Employability Director (2015 - 2019)

Enterprise and Engagement Officer (2015 - 2018)

Plagiarism Officer (2014 - 2016)

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, University of East Anglia

Award Date: 1 Jan 2014

External positions

External Partnerships and Networking Lead2019, Gender and Education Association

2019 → …

Consultant Researcher, Plan International UK

Keywords

  • Social Work & Sociology
  • Feminist Media Studies
  • Gender Studies
  • Political theory
  • Children & Families
  • Social Interactions
  • Higher Education
  • Media (General)

Media Expertise

  • Gender politics