Dr James Graham

Deputy Dean (Student Success)

James Graham

  • School Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries

  • Department ACI Faculty Leadership

  • Location London

Research activities

James' research background is in postcolonial media and literary studies. He is particularly interested in the intersection of promotional and postcolonial cultures and is currently PI for an international consortium of academics and practitioners bidding for external funding for the project ‘#diversifyoutdoors: Diversity, Participation and Outdoor Brands on Instagram’. Cooperation partners include outdoor brands and organisations (Outdoor Industries Association), third sector groups (Campaign for National Parks, Danish Outdoor Council, Norwegian Association for Outdoor Organisations), and policy-makers (Natural England, Danish Nature Agency, Metsähallitus, Parks and Wildlife Finland).

This work builds on the 2018 Instagram Conference hosted at Middlesex, for which James co-edited a special issue of Social Media+Society, and the 2015 conference on Collaborative Production in the Creative Industries, which led to the publication of a co-edited book: https://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books/10.16997/book4/

Previously James collaborated on a project with colleagues from the Universities of Warwick, University College Dublin, Durham, York and Sussex which aimed at understanding and critiquing the spectacular re-emergence of 'world literature' in the Anglo-American academy. James has lectured, given conference papers and published extensivelly on this and related subjects, including the representation of land and landscape in southern African writing; the work of Ivan Vladislavić and Yvonne Vera; the aesthetics of postcolonial urbanism; and the rise and fall of 'multiculturalism' in British film and fiction of the New Labour Years.


Current Teaching

James has developed and taught a wide range of modules in the Media department at Middlesex, including: Brands, Media and Society; Visual Cultures; Writing the City; Advertising and PR in Context; Practices of Promotional Culture; Issues in Promotional Culture; Media for Advertising and Marketing; Marketing: PR and Promotion; Methods and Issues in Developing Research Projects; Independent Project.

As well as leading the delivery of undergraduate independent project/undegraduate dissertation modules, James supervises independent projects at postgraduate levels, with three PhD completions:

Adrian Banting, ‘Forbidden Love in Muslim Britain’

Maitrayee Basu, ‘Assembling Authority: the Rise of Literary Journalism in India’

Giannina Warren, 'Cultural Intermediaries and Place Branding: A Framework for Understanding Their Impact and Influence'


Biography

James Graham is Deputy Dean for Student Success in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries. He has responsibility across the Faculty for student experience, continuation, completion and progression (graduate employability and further study); Faculty engagement with the Teaching Excellence Framework and Access & Participation Plan; and the implementation of innovative learning, teaching and assessment practice.

James teaches broadly across media and communications and researches in the fields of postcolonial media and literary studies. He is the convenor of the Promotional Cultures Research Cluster and has supervised three PhDs to completion in this area. Prior to taking on the role of Deputy Dean he was a Director of Programmes and before that the programme leader for the BA Advertising, PR and Branding programme, taking it through two succesful reviews and overseeing its expansion and delivery internationally in London, Dubai, Mauritius and Vietnam.

As Director of Programmes James managed staff and provided leadership in curriculum development, teaching and learning and quality assurance for BA English, BA Media and Cultural Studies, BA Journalism and Communication, BA Creative Writing and Journalism, BA Advertising, PR and Branding, MA Media Management, MSc Digital Journalism, MA Novel Writing and MA Scriptwriting. James is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was awarded 'Academic Staff Member of the Year' in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries at the 2018 Middlesex Student's Union Student-Led Teaching Awards.

Publications

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