Dr Ria Cheyne
Arts Professional and Social Studies
Faculty of Arts Professional and Social Studies
Email: R.J.Cheyne@ljmu.ac.uk
Ria is a postdoctoral research fellow on the Disabled Researchers Network project (PI Dr Lucie Matthews-Jones). Funded by Research England's 'Enhancing Research Culture' initiative, the project aims to:
• Identify the structural barriers faced by disabled researchers in higher education
• Explore how to build a positive research culture for disabled researchers, at LJMU and beyond.
Before joining LJMU, Ria was a Senior Lecturer in Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University. Much of her research has focused on representations of disability and health in contemporary literature and culture, bringing together literary studies, disability studies, and critical medical humanities. She has published widely on disability in literature, and on genre fiction. Her book Disability, Literature, Genre: Representation and Affect in Contemporary Fiction (Liverpool University Press, 2019) was selected for open access publication via Knowledge Unlatched, and she has guest edited-special issues of the Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies on 'Popular Genres and Disability Representation' (2012) and 'The Intersections of Disability and Science Fiction' (2020, with Kathryn Allan). She is one of the leads of the Neurodivergent Humanities Network (funded by the Wellcome Trust via the Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research).
Ria's current projects include an edited collection on disclosure in critical medical humanities (with Dr Anna McFarlane, University of Leeds), an investigation into framings of 'neurodiversity' in contemporary culture, and a chapter on neuroqueer theory and science fiction.
Journal article
Allan K, Cheyne R. 2020. Science fiction, disability, disability studies a conversation Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, 14 :387-401 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2013. "She was born a thing": Disability, the cyborg and the posthuman in Anne McCaffrey's the Ship Who Sang Journal of Modern Literature, 36 :138-156 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2013. Disability Studies Reads the Romance Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 7 :37-52 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2012. Introduction: Popular Genres and Disability Representation Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 6 :117-123 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2008. Created languages in science fiction Science-Fiction Studies, 35 :386-403
Cheyne R. 2006. Ursula K. Le Guin and translation EXTRAPOLATION, 47 :457-470 DOI Publisher Url
Books (authored)
Cheyne R. 2019. Disability, Literature, Genre Liverpool University Press 9781789620771 DOI Publisher Url
Chapters
Cheyne R. 2018. Disability in Genre Fiction CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO LITERATURE AND DISABILITY :185-198 978-1-107-45813-0 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2017. Disability Studies Reads the Romance Culture - Theory - Disability :201-230 transcript Verlag DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2017. Disability Studies Reads the Romance Culture - Theory - Disability :201-230 transcript Verlag DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2013. Freaks and extraordinary bodies: Disability as generic marker in John Varley’s “Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo” Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure :35-46 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2010. Touching the Other: Alien Contact and Transgressive Touch in Torchwood Ireland A. Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character and Sexuality in the BBC Series :43-52 McFarland
Cheyne R. Freaks and Extraordinary Bodies Disability in Science Fiction Palgrave Macmillan 9781137343437 DOI Publisher Url
Book review
Cheyne R. 2016. Disability and popular culture: focusing passion, creating community and expressing defiance DISABILITY & SOCIETY, 31 :433-434 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. Review of Concerto for the Left Hand: Disability and the Defamiliar Body Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, 3 :105-106 Publisher Url
Other
Cheyne R. 2010. Seminar Report: Literary, Cultural, & Disability Studies: A Tripartite Approach to Postcolonialism Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 4 :201-204 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2009. Seminar Report : Literary, Cultural, and Disability Studies: A Tripartite Approach to Poststructuralism Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 3 :295-297 DOI Publisher Url
Cheyne R. 2009. Conference Report: Theorising Culture and Disability: Interdisciplinary Dialogues Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 3 :101-104 DOI Publisher Url
Other Professional Activity:
Invited presentation: ‘The Disabled Researchers Network Project: How can we create a more inclusive research culture?’ Equality for Who? The Politics and Practices of University Inclusion. ESRC Festival of Social Science, University of Sheffield [online, with Lucinda Matthews-Jones]. 24 Oct. 2024
Invited presentation: ‘Putting “Neurodiversity” to Work: Disability Models and the Corporate Model of Disability’. Disability Conversations Across the Disciplines: A Collaborative Workshop. Umeå University, Sweden. 29 Aug. 2024
Keynote address: 'Disability Studies and Children’s Literature: Spaces of Possibility'. CripKidLit: Critical approaches to disability in children’s and young adult literature and media. University of Cambridge. 20 Apr. 2024
Keynote address: ‘Neurodivergent Futures: Mapping the Intersections of Medical Humanities, Cultural Disability Studies, and Neurodiversity Studies’. Literary and Cultural Disability Studies: British and Continental Perspectives [funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation]. University of Fribourg, Switzerland. 4 Nov. 2023
Invited presentation: ‘Genre-Shaped Stories of Disability: Literature and Disability Studies’. The Inaugural Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Seminar, English Literature and Creative Writing. Lancaster University. 25 Jan. 2023