Joanna Bourke

Portrait of Joanna Bourke
Biography

Joanna Bourke is a social and cultural historian who has shaped profoundly our understanding of subjects central to human experience like violence, the body and emotions. She is Professor of History in the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck College, London, where she has taught since 1992, Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London, a fellow of the British Academy, as well as holding the Global Innovations Chair at the University of Newcastle (Australia). Bourke explores history through the lens of gender, intersectionalities, and subjectivities and is a prize-winning author of a variety of books. In the past few years, her research has focused on questions of humanity, militarisation, and pain. Among her more recent works are: »War and Art: A Visual History of Modern Conflict« (2017) and her forthcoming book »Loving Animals: On Bestiality, Zoophilia and Post-Human Love« (2020). She is currently the Principal Investigator of a 5-year Wellcome Trust project called SHaME (Sexual Harms and Medical Encounters).