
Overview
Background
Elizabeth Stephens is an Associate Professor of Cultural Studies in the School of Communication and Arts. She was previously an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (UQ, 2017-2021), Associate Dean Research at Southern Cross University (2014-2017), and an ARC Australian Research Fellow in the Centre for the History of European Discourses (UQ, 2010-2014). Her background is in gender and sexuality studies, and her current research focuses on three interconnected themes:
- popular histories and representations of science, medicine and technology
- collaborations between the arts and sciences
- the critical medical humanities
Elizabeth is author of over 100 publications, including three monographs: A Critical Genealogy of Normality (University of Chicago Press, 2017), co-authored with Peter Cryle; Anatomy as Spectacle: Public Exhibitions of the Body from 1700 to the Present (Liverpool University Press, 2011), and Queer Writing: Homoeroticism in Jean Genet's Fiction (Palgrave 2009). She has published over 75 research articles and chapters, as well as non-traditional outputs including catalogue essays and curated exhibitions.
She welcomes inquiries from potential PhD students, and can offer supervision in the following areas:
- cultural studies of science, medicine and/or technology
- art/science collaboration
- medical humanities
- digital cultures
- gender and sexuality studies
Availability
- Associate Professor Elizabeth Stephens is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Research interests
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Collaboration between the arts and sciences
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History of science, technology and medicine
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Gender and sexuality studies
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Science and technology studies
Works
Search Professor Elizabeth Stephens’s works on UQ eSpace
2006
Journal Article
Cultural fixions of the freak body: Coney Island and the postmodern sideshow
Stephens, Elizabeth (2006). Cultural fixions of the freak body: Coney Island and the postmodern sideshow. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 20 (4), 485-498. doi: 10.1080/10304310600988286
2006
Book Chapter
Corporeographies: The dancing body in 'adame Miroir and Un chant d'amour
Stephens, E. A. (2006). Corporeographies: The dancing body in 'adame Miroir and Un chant d'amour. Genet: Politics and Performance. (pp. 159-168) edited by C. Finburgh, C. Lavery and M. Shevtsova. London: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9780230595439
2005
Book Chapter
Un mur qui ne serait jamais abattu: Le bagne du desir dans Un chant d'amour
Stephens, E. A. (2005). Un mur qui ne serait jamais abattu: Le bagne du desir dans Un chant d'amour. Aimez-vous le queer?. (pp. 131-139) edited by Lawrence R Schehr. New York, U.S.A.: Rodopi. doi: 10.1163/9789004333024_010
2005
Book Chapter
Je suis un mensonge qui dit toujours la verite: Genet's Queer Subjectivities
Stephens, E. A. (2005). Je suis un mensonge qui dit toujours la verite: Genet's Queer Subjectivities. Soi-disant: Life-Writing in French. (pp. 41-52) edited by de Nooy, Juliana, Hardwick, Joe and Hanna, Barbara E.. Newark, USA: University of Delaware Press.
2005
Journal Article
Twenty First Century freak show: Recent transformations in the exhibition of non-normative bodies
Stephens, Elizabeth (2005). Twenty First Century freak show: Recent transformations in the exhibition of non-normative bodies. Disability Studies Quarterly, 25 (3 (Summer)), 1-8. doi: 10.18061/dsq.v25i3.580
2004
Journal Article
Disseminating phallic masculinity: Seminal fluidity in Genet's fiction
Stephens, E. (2004). Disseminating phallic masculinity: Seminal fluidity in Genet's fiction. Paragraph, 27 (2), 85-97. doi: 10.3366/para.2004.27.2.85
2003
Journal Article
Hadow/Stuart Short Story Award: Judge's report
Stephens, E. A. (2003). Hadow/Stuart Short Story Award: Judge's report. Martinata, 3, 8-8.
2003
Conference Publication
A language of one's own: The possibilities of writing in French feminism and deconstruction.
Stephens, Elizabeth (2003). A language of one's own: The possibilities of writing in French feminism and deconstruction.. 2001 AWSA Biennial Conference, Sydney, 31 January - 2 February, 2001. Sydney: Macquarie University.
2003
Journal Article
Corporeal generosity: On giving with Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas (Book review)
Stephens, E. (2003). Corporeal generosity: On giving with Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas (Book review). Australian Feminist Studies, 18 (41), 218-219. doi: 10.1080/08164640301724
1999
Journal Article
Masculinity as Masquerade: ‘Gay’ Macho in the Novels of Jean Genet
Stephens, Elizabeth (1999). Masculinity as Masquerade: ‘Gay’ Macho in the Novels of Jean Genet. Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, 4 (2), 52-63.
1999
Book Chapter
Watchdogs of desire: Homophobia in the novels of Jean Genet
Stephens, Elizabeth (1999). Watchdogs of desire: Homophobia in the novels of Jean Genet. Playing the man: New approaches to masculinity. (pp. 63-74) edited by Katherine Biber, Tom Sear and Dave Trudinger. Annandale, Australia: Pluto Press.
1999
Conference Publication
Phallic Worship in the Novels of Jean Genet
Stephens, Elizabeth (1999). Phallic Worship in the Novels of Jean Genet. Literature and Psychoanalysis Conference, Sydney , Australia, 1998.
1998
Journal Article
Satyrical men: Genet’s theatre of masculinity
Stephens, Elizabeth (1998). Satyrical men: Genet’s theatre of masculinity. Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review, 5 (1), 30-33.
1997
Journal Article
The technologies of recuperation: The failures of Dada poetry
Stephens, Elizabeth (1997). The technologies of recuperation: The failures of Dada poetry. Southerly, 57 (1), 79-90.
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Elizabeth Stephens is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Digital Arenas and Gendered Politics: Analyzing the Social Media Strategies of Female Politicians in the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) of South Sumatra, Indonesia
Principal Advisor
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Doctor Philosophy
There Is No Outside: Art-Science Collaborations with Nonhumans in the Anthropocene
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Amelia Barikin
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Doctor Philosophy
There Is No Outside: Art-Science Collaborations with Nonhumans in the Anthropocene
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Amelia Barikin
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Doctor Philosophy
Detrans geographies: an exploration or borders and belonging
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karin Sellberg
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Master Philosophy
With Colleagues Like These: AI in the Workplace, On and Off Screen
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Jason Jacobs
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Master Philosophy
"The Problem of Living"; and "Sense and Insensibility: Pain, Trauma and the Limits of First-Person Narrative in Creative Non-Fiction"
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Tom Doig
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Doctor Philosophy
Representations of Sexual Trauma in American Women's Life Writing
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karin Sellberg
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Doctor Philosophy
Sexual Science, Medicine, and Healthy Ageing in Historical Perspective (c. 1880-1970)
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Peter Cryle
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Doctor Philosophy
Affective digital labour and FemTech
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Nicholas Carah
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Doctor Philosophy
Vibes, Flows, Feelings: Investigating the algorithmic techniques of affective capitalism
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Nicholas Carah
Completed supervision
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
There Is No Outside: Art-Science Collaborations with Nonhumans in the Anthropocene
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Amelia Barikin
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Uncertain Knowledge: False Conception and Molas in European Medicine, 1500-1800
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karin Sellberg, Professor Lisa Featherstone
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2015
Doctor Philosophy
Casanova's Celebrity: a Case Study of Well-knownness in 18th-century Europe
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Joe Hardwick, Emeritus Professor Peter Cryle
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Representations of Sexual Trauma in American Women's Life Writing
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karin Sellberg
Media
Enquiries
Contact Associate Professor Elizabeth Stephens directly for media enquiries about:
- Gender and digital culture
- Health and medical humanities
- Histories of science medicine and technology
- Popular cultures of science and medicine
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