McDonell, Dr Jennifer

McDonell, Dr Jennifer

Deputy Head of School, School of Arts

University of New England, NSW
Research interests / activities:

Jennifer McDonell is a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of School at the University of New England (Australia). Jennifer’s research interests include the perceptions of animals in nineteenth-century Britain, and human and animal studies as a discipline. Recent work in the area of animals and literary representation includes articles and chapters on Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her dog, Flush; mourning, sentimentality and pets in Victorian England; and literary human and animal studies and the academy, including an essay, entitled ‘Animals’ (5000 words) in the The Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature (Blackwell, 2015). Jennifer has edited (with Leigh Dale) a collection of scholarly essays on animals and literature (Australian Literary Studies, 23. 1. [June 2010]) and a collection of papers on the ‘History of Academic English’ (Modern Language Quarterly 75.2 [June 2014]). She is currently working on several essays on animals in Victorian England including ‘Dickens and Animal Studies’ for the Oxford Handbook to Charles Dickens; an essay on Animals in Victorian Literature and Culture for the Routledge Handbook for Animal-Human History, and another on mill horses in Victorian literature for Animals in Victorian Literature and Culture (Palgrave Macmillan). Jennifer has also published on the poetry of Robert Browning, is the recipient of state and national teaching awards and is a ‘Life Member’ of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. She welcomes higher degree research students in the area Human-Animal Studies, particularly in relation to topics in Victorian literature and culture.

Website/blog: Staff profile