Dr Emma Vickers
Humanities and Social Science
Emma is a senior lecturer in History at Liverpool John Moores University. Prior to this, she was a senior teaching fellow at Lancaster University and a lecturer in History at the University of Reading. Her first monograph, Queen and Country: Same Sex Desire in the British Armed Forces, 1939-1945 (MUP 2013) explores the intersection between same-sex desire and service in the British Armed Forces during the Second World War. Her edited collection (with Corinna Peniston-Bird) Lessons of War (Palgrave, 2017) took up the invitation offered by the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War to evaluate how gender history contributes, nuances and challenges existing understandings of the Second World War. She is currently working on outputs arising from Dry Your Eyes Princess, a project that used oral testimony to uncover the experiences of trans personnel in the British Armed Forces before 2000. Following an award from the Arts Council, Emma worked with the photographer Stephen King on a series of photographs of her interviewees which were exhibited as part of Homotopia in Liverpool and Outburst in Belfast.
She is a member of the Oral History Society LGBTQ special interest group and is currently in advanced clinical training in psychotherapy.
Emma has worked with the BBC and collaborated with various museums and external organisations including the Ministry of Defence, Reading Museum and the Historical Association. She is an academic advisor for the National Festival of LGBT History and is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). In 2017 she was awarded the prestigious Vice Chancellor's award for social and economic engagement.
Emma convenes 6022HIST, Queer Britain and contributes to various modules across the undergraduate curriculum. She also teaches on the MRes in History and supervises MRes dissertations and PhD students. She is interested in supervising students interested in any aspect of gender and war, oral testimony and LGBTQ history.
Degrees
2008, Lancaster University, United Kingdom, PhD
2003, Lancaster University, United Kingdom, MA, Historical Research (Distinction)
Academic appointments
Equality and Diversity Champion, APSS, Liverpool John Moores University, 2018 - present
Academic Advisor, LGBT History Month, 2014 - present
Co-organiser, Outing the Past conference, 2014 - present
Highlighted publications
Vickers E. 2022. New Directions in Queer Oral History: Archives of Disruption Vickers E, Tooth-Murphy A, Summerskill C. Routledge DOI Publisher Url
Vickers EL. 2020. Dry Your Eyes, Princess: oral testimony and photography: a case study Oral History, 48 :86-96 Publisher Url Public Url
Vickers EL. 2012. Queen and Country: Same-sex desire in the British Armed Forces, 1939-1945 :1-208 Manchester University Press. Manchester
Book
Vickers E. 2022. New Directions in Queer Oral History: Archives of Disruption Vickers E, Tooth-Murphy A, Summerskill C. Routledge DOI Publisher Url
Vickers EL. 2012. Queen and Country: Same-sex desire in the British Armed Forces, 1939-1945 :1-208 Manchester University Press. Manchester
Journal article
Vickers EL. 2020. Dry Your Eyes, Princess: oral testimony and photography: a case study Oral History, 48 :86-96 Publisher Url Public Url
Vickers EL. 2019. Unexpected trauma in oral interviewing Oral History Review, 46 DOI Author Url Publisher Url Public Url
Vickers E. 2011. 'The forgotten army of the woods': The Women's Timber Corps during the Second World War Agricultural History Review, 59 :101-112
Vickers EL. 2010. Queer sex in the Metropolis? Place, Subjectivity and the Second World War Cronin A, Oakley-Brown E. Feminist Review, :58-73 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Vickers EL. 2009. 'Infantile Desires and Perverted Practices: Disciplining Lesbianism in the WAAF and the ATS during the Second World War'. Laurie AJ. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 13 :431-441 DOI Author Url Publisher Url
Editorial/letter to the editor
Vickers E, Wall C, Tooth-Murphy A, Severs G. 2020. Editorial Vickers E, Tooth-Murphy A, Wall C, Severs G. Oral History, 48 :2-3
Chapters
Vickers E. 2017. Homosexuel.le.s combatant.e.s dans l'armée Britannique Schlagdenhauffen R. Homosexuel-le-s en Europe pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale :205-225 Nouveau Monde éditions. Paris Publisher Url Public Url
Vickers EL, Jackson E. 2016. Sanctuary or sissy? Male to female cross dressing as entertainment in the British Armed Forces, 1939-1945 Vickers EL, Peniston-Bird CM. Lessons of War: Gender History and the Second World War Palgrave 9781137524577 Public Url
Vickers EL. 2011. 'The Good Fellow' : Negotiation, Remembrance, and Recollection: Homosexuality in the British Armed Forces, 1939-1945. Brutality and Desire: War and Sexuality in Europe's Twentieth Century :109-134 Palgrave Macmillan 978-0230285637 DOI Publisher Url
Book review
Vickers EL. 2017. Sex, Soldiers and the South Pacific, 1939–45: Queer Identities in Australia in the Second World War by Yorick Smaal Journal of the History of Sexuality, 26 :340-341 Author Url Publisher Url
Vickers EL. 2013. Disturbing Practices: History, Sexuality, and Women’s Experiences of Modern War Twentieth Century British History, 25 :503-504 DOI Publisher Url
Vickers EL. 2010. The Importance of Being Monogamous Gender and History, 22 :252-253 DOI Publisher Url
Conference publication
Vickers EL, Jackson E, Vickers EL. 'Sanctuary or sissy? Cross-dressing as entertainment in the British Armed Forces, 1939-1945'. Lessons of War: Gender and the Second World War
External committees:
Oral History LGBTQ special interest group, Oral History Society, Member, http://www.ohs.org.uk/about/introducing-special-interest-groups/. 2016
National Festival of LGBT History, LGBT History Month/Schools Out, Academic advisor, http://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/national-festival/. 2014
Conference presentation:
'Dry Your Eyes Princess', Trans*formations, Lisbon, Oral presentation. 2016
Conference organisation:
Historicising trans*, https://dremmavickers.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/historicising-trans/. 2015
Lessons of War: Gender and the Second World War, Co-organiser, http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/faculty/event/4377/. 2013
Membership of professional bodies:
Fellow, Higher Education Academy, https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/recognition-accreditation/fellowships/become-fellow-hea. 2015
External collaboration:
http://www.stephenkingphotography.co.uk/, LJMU, Stephen King. 2014
Other invited event:
“Get Some In!' Managing Queer Desire and National Service in Britain,1945-1963’ (invited paper) Institute of Historical Research, 28 January 2014., Room G37 (Ground Floor) Senate House, South Block, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU., Invited paper. 2014