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Emilia Weber

Research Title

Performances of Politics, Power and Resistance in the UK

More about Emilia

Before starting my doctoral studies I completed an MA (Hons) in English Literature and Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow, where I graduated with First Class Honours in 2011. I then went on to work with the theatre company Untitled Projects where I was assistant director and researcher on a number of large-scale experimental performances that have been shown by the Barbican, The National Theatre of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Festival, among others. Alongside my work with Untitled Projects I developed a performance and film lecture There They Carved a Space that examined the relationship between landscape, politics and memory.

Between 2013 and 2016 I toured this piece to theatres and conferences throughout the UK and it is the subject of the book chapter ‘Mapping urban space and Time: Talking to Horses and pigs’ in Migrations: New Cinema & the City (London, Cours de Poetique) by Dr Edwina Attlee. In 2016 I was awarded an ESRC 1+3 studentship to study for an MSc in Urban Studies at UCL followed by a PhD in the Department of Geography. My MSc dissertation titled ‘Bloody Sunday: Memory, Performance and Place’ drew on literature from performance studies, geography and memory studies to examine the commemorative afterlives of Bloody Sunday, it was awarded a distinction and the Frank Carter Postgraduate Dissertation Prize.

Education

  • PhD in Geography, UCL, (ESRC funded) 2017-
  • MSc (Distinction) in Urban Studies, UCL, (ESRC funded) 2016-2017
  • MA Hons (First Class) in Theatre Studies and English Literature, University of Glasgow 2007-2011
  • Foundation Course in Art and Design, Central St. Martins School of Art and Design 2006-2007

Affiliations and Memberships

Teaching

I have given the following guest lectures: 

I have been a postgraduate teaching assistant on the following modules: 

 

    Publications

    Journal Articles

    Chapters in edited volumes

    • Weber, E. (2021) "Vessels". In Benvegnú et al (eds) Gendering Logistics Feminist Approaches for the Analysis of Supply Chain Capitalism. Bologna: University of Bologna Press.

    Conferences and Presentations

    • Invited roundtable participant on ''Our future is still the future of 1973': Militant Ecologies and the Work/Energy Crisis' panel, ASLE-UKI Biennial Conference, Northumbria University, 5-8 September 2022.
    • ‘Theatre of War: Rehearsal, Pedagogy and Space.’ Performance and State Violence Conference, Queen Mary, University of London, 15-16 June 2022.
    • Co-organiser of 'Borders, Performance and Performativity' panel, Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG) 2021 Conference, Royal Geographical Society, 31 August-3 September 2021.
    • 'Time and Performance at the Border.' Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG) 2021 Conference, Royal Geographical Society, 31 August-3 September 2021.
    • 'Theatre of War: The UK Air Show.' Between Myth and Memory: Contemporary Politics and the Performance of History, University of Surrey, 25 April 2019.
    • ‘Bloody Sunday: Memories as Protest.’ Action: Arrest. Performance, Protest and the Law Symposium, Kings College London, 29 September 2018.
    • ‘Bloody Sunday: Performing Memory and Place.’ Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG) 2018 Conference, Cardiff University, 28-31 August 2018.
    • ‘Bloody Sunday: Performing Memories against the State.’ Theatricality, Performance and the State Conference, Queen Mary, University of London, 7-8 June 2018.
     
    Research Interests

    My doctoral project, provisionally titled ‘Performances of Politics, Power and Resistance in the UK’ mobilises performance studies to analyse the spatial politics of state-sponsored ceremony and citizen-led protest in the UK. Drawing on a range of literatures and on qualitative ethnographic methods, this project traces the spatial dynamics of protest and ceremony via three events: the community-led reopening of Northern Ireland border roads in the 1990s, the Liverpool Dockers’ lock-out and attendant protests organised with Reclaim the Streets, and via military performances at air and military shows. The project’s contention is that addressing the relationship between politics and performance will cross disciplinary boundaries to provide new ways to expose the hegemony of political representation in state ceremonies, and to disclose the emancipatory potential of new social spaces produced via protest.

    Research Grants, Prizes and Awards
    • 2016-2020: MSc and PhD studentship, Economic and Social Research Council
    • 2019: UCL Grand Challenges Doctoral Students' Grant for Cross-Faculty Partnerships, UCL
    • 2019: The Bill Mead Travel Fund, Department of Geography, UCL
    • 2017: The Frank Carter Postgraduate Dissertation Prize, Department of Geography, UCL
    • 2017: Dean’s List for Academic Excellence, Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences, UCL
    • 2014: Platform 18 Award shortlisting for There They Carved a Space
    • 2013: Assistant Director Bursary, Federation of Scottish Theatre
    • 2011: The Alexander Waddel Prize for Most Distinguished Woman Student in English Literature, University of Glasgow
    • 2011: The Alastair Buchan Prize, University of Glasgow
    • 2007-2011: The Talent Scholarship Award, University of Glasgow

    Emilia Weber

    Role

    Research Student

    Contact

    UCL Department of Geography,
    North West Wing,
    London,
    WC1E 6BT

    Supervisors

    Research Students