Dr Leila Michelle Vaziri

My research is primarily interested in representations of pregnancy in British novels from 1890-1939. It aims to trace how the formerly marginalised topic of pregnancy gains discursive prominence at the turn of the 20th century and how this is thematically and formally reflected in novels of the period. My approach is interdisciplinary, bringing together cultural, social, material and medical perspectives in an attempt to develop a methodology of reading for resonances between pregnant bodies, texts and social structures.

In research that runs parallel to this project, I'm co-editor of a special issue of JCDE on New Stages for Sex, Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Theatre (2026) and will co-edit a special issue of Feminist Theory on Feminist Theory and the Pregnant Body, 1850-1950 with Emma Short (Durham) as well as an edited collection titled Ecologies of Kinship: Forms and Genealogies in Anglophone Literatures with Sarah Wegener (Mainz) and Martin Riedelsheimer (Newcastle). In general, my research focusses on the intersection of literature with philosophy and sociology, as well as feminism, ecology, and the medical humanities.