Dr Debra Ferreday
Senior LecturerProfile
As an intersectional feminist cultural theorist, my work is concerned with complex entanglements between the personal and the political, and with the way power structures are internalised and resisted in relation to media and popular culture. My current work uses concepts of social haunting, queering and critical mental health studies to examine how 'the margins' are reproduced and inhabited through culture, and how the marginal historically operates as a space of creativity and resistance that is eroded by capitalism. My latest book New Queer Television: From Marginalization to Mainstreamification (Intellect, 2025), co-edited with Tom Brassington and Dany Girard, explores these dynamics in relation to contemporary queer representation.
Current Research
Questions of embodiment, power and intimacy have always been central to my work. My current research project, Cannibal Cultures, explores these themes by exploring images of cannibalism in contemporary culture, ranging from queer romance to post-MeToo dating satire to narratives of ecocidem, waste and care.
My second project, The Maligned Nineties Woman, builds on my long-term interests in celebrity, trauma, memory and social haunting. Through contentious figures like Courtney Love, Sinead O'Connor and Britney Spears, I examine how music, fan culture and celebrity culture represent powerful spaces for understanding the impact of mediated trauma.
Current Teaching
I am MA Convenor for Gender Studies, and teach across programmes in Media and Cultural Studies and Gender Studies specialising in visual and digital media, embodiment, feminist cultural theory and queer theories and cultures.
PhD Supervision Interests
Supporting PhD supervisees is a central part of my academic practice. I am a former Doctoral Director for the Gender Studies, Media and Cultural Studies and Gender Studies doctoral programmes and have co-supervised projects in diverse interdisciplinary fields including English, Theatre Studies, Health and Medicine, Music Studies. I welcome applications from students interested in feminist and queer theory working across the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
27/06/2024 → ¡
Research
01/12/2023 → ¡
Research
01/10/2023 → 15/10/2025
Research
15/05/2009 → 26/03/2010
Research
01/02/2003 → ¡
Research
01/01/1900 → ¡
Research
Invited talk
Invited talk
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Invited talk
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Editorial activity
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Editorial activity
Editorial activity
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Editorial activity
Editorial activity
Editorial activity
- Centre for Gender Studies