Dr Rhys Steven Jones

Profile

I am currently working as a Teaching Fellow in Film Studies at the University of Leeds, having previously worked as a lecturer at Birkbeck and Liverpool John Moores University. My PhD thesis (which passed without corrections) maps the dynamics of socio-cultural abjection against their political-economic determinants and effects through close formal analyses of critical theory and contemporary cinema. I have an article on abjection in horror cinema forthcoming in LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory and have recently published an entry on ‘Racial Capitalism’ for The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory.

Research interests

My research spans a range of literary and cinematic texts, including but not limited to:

  • the writings of H.P Lovecraft
  • post-war science-fiction (William Golding; Samuel R. Delany; Ursula K. Le Guin; J. G. Ballard)
  • Gothic fiction and film
  • 19th century US narratives of slavery
  • twentieth and twenty-first century American cinema (A Birth of A Nation, Night of the Living Dead, It Follows)
  • and a range of post-millennial fiction (Never Let me Go; Citizen; the short stories of Carmen Maria Machado, Petra Kuppers and Claire Coleman).

My current research project maps the dynamics of socio-cultural abjection against their political-economic determinants and effects through close formal analyses of critical theory, twentieth-century fiction and contemporary world cinema.

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Student education

I am currently teaching undergraduate modules on topics including: introduction to film studies, directing world cinema, critical approches to screen studies, post-war European cinema, final year projects, and postgraduate modules on film arts and industries, independent projects and dissertations.

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS, DEPT OF FILM STUDIES, SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES, CULTURES AND SOCIETIES

  • MODL1800: Introduction to Film Studies II – Module Convenor (1st-year UG 2022/23)
  • MODL1900: Directing World Cinemas – Lecturer (1st-year UG 2022/23)
  • MODL2055: Critical Approaches to Screen Studies - Lecturer (2nd-year UG 2022/23)
  • MODL2230: From Film Noir to Asia Extreme: Questioning Genre in World Cinemas - Lecturer (2nd-year UG 2022/23)
  • MODL3027: Post-war European Cinema – Module Convenor (3rd-year UG 2022/2023)
  • MODL3300: Final Year Project (Dissertation) - Supervisor (3rd-year UG 2022/2023)
  • MODL5620M: Film Arts and Industries - Lecturer (MA 2022/2023)
  • MODL5630M: MA Independent Project / Dissertation – Module Convenor and Supervisor (MA 2022/23)
  • MODL5640M: Film Programming for Venues and Streaming: Curation in the Digital Age – Lecturer (MA 2022/23)

Before joining the department at Leeds I worked at Birkbeck, where I was the programme director for their MA Contemporary Literature and Culture, and prior to that I worked as a lecturer in film studies at the Liverpool Screen School.