![Katharine Kavanagh](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/3550?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
Katharine recently completed her PhD student in the Centre for Language and Communication Research.
Her research takes a corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis approach to audience experience and public representations of circus, with a focus on evaluative texts.
Academic Background
- MA in Language and Communication Research at Cardiff University (2018-2019; Distinction)
- BA in Theatre at Dartington College of Arts (2002-2005; First Class Honours)
Publication
2024
- Kavanagh, K. S. 2024. What’s so special about (the) circus - and who says so? A corpus-assisted discourse analysis of value difference and mediation in promotional texts. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2019
- Kavanagh, K. 2019. Valuing circus: A corpus-assisted critical discourse investigation of review texts. Taught Course Thesis.
Taught course thesis
- Kavanagh, K. 2019. Valuing circus: A corpus-assisted critical discourse investigation of review texts. Taught Course Thesis.
Thesis
- Kavanagh, K. S. 2024. What’s so special about (the) circus - and who says so? A corpus-assisted discourse analysis of value difference and mediation in promotional texts. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
Research
- Circus Studies
- (Critical) Discourse Analysis
- Corpus Linguistics
- Evaluation
- Arts Criticism
I also have an underlying interest in communication that bridges difference in value systems, particularly in education and public media.
Publication
Article:
Book review:
- Routledge Companion to Audiences and the Performing Arts, In Cultural Trends, 32:4, 2023. 443-447 (Co-authored with Hannah Griffiths, Simon Piening, Beth Prevor, Lizzie Ridley & Serena Slack-Robins)
- Female Aerialists in the 1920s and Early 1930s: Femininity, Celebrity and Glamour, Abingdon/New York: Routledge, 2022. 196 pp. Kate Holmes. In Circus: Arts, Life, and Sciences 1(1), 2022.
- Circus as Multimodal Discourse: Performance, Meaning, and Ritual. By Paul Bouissac. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Pp. 216 + 38 illus. £80 Hb; £79.99 eb; £24.99 Pb.The Greatest Shows On Earth: A History of the Circus. By Linda Simon. London: Reaktion Books, 2014. Pp. 296 + 136 illus. £29/$40 Hb. In Theatre Research International 41(1) Mar 2016, p.92-93
- Contemporary Street Arts in Europe: Aesthetics and Politics. By Susan C. Haedicke. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Pp. xiii + 228 + 8 illus. £53 Hb. In Theatre Research International 40(1) Mar 2015, p.118-119
Symposium
- The Metamodern Circus, 26th May 2023. NoFit State Circus, Cardiff.
Documentation available at https://thecircusdiaries.com/the-metamodern-circus/.
Presentations
- 'Things That Make Us Go Ooh... (Why We Keep Rolling Up to the Circus)', at Corpus Linguistics 2023, 4 Jul 2023
- 'Opportunity in the Abyss: growing a critical culture of circus', at Platform Symposium: On Criticism, 23 Nov 2018, Central School of Speech and Drama, London
- 'Overcoming Academic Otherness - experiments in integration', at Circus and Its Others II, 27-29 Aug 2018, Prague
- 'Introduction to the Contemporary Circus: Studies and Spectacle', at Festival of Creative Learning, 22 Feb 2018, University of Edinburgh (School of Art)
- 'Circus and Criticism', at Theatre and Fandom, 7 July 2017, University of Bristol
Teaching
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- Visiting Lecturer at Circomedia in Bristol, UK, teaching circus history, context and and criticality to BA and MA students (Oct 2018-)
- Guest lecturer at the University of Dance and Circus (DOCH) in Stockholm, Sweden, teaching circus performance and interpretation to BA and MA students (Apr 2018-)
- Teaching Associate at Cardiff University, School of English, Communication and Philosophy (Understanding Communication; Language and the Mind; How Language Works 2) and School of Journalism, Media and Communication (Digital Culture; Introduction to Media Audiences; Doing Media Research: Approaches and Methods; Creative and Cultural Industries; Media and Gender; Advertising and Consumer Society; Representations) (2019-)
- Module Lead (Performance Review and Analysis) at the National Centre for Circus Arts in London, UK (Sept 2017-Feb 2018)