Peter Leese

Peter Leese

Associate Professor

Primary fields of research

  • Cultural and social history.
  • Britain and Europe in the 19th and 20th c.
  • Historical Trauma Studies
  • The Great War: society, combat and memory; shell shock 
  • Migrant Memory: life-stories, investigations, pictures
  • Britain: film, music and the visual arts in society; local and regional identities, including East London. 

Current research

Migrant Memory: life-stories, investigations, pictures

Historical Trauma Studies, especially 20th century

Methodologies, including life story / oral history analysis and use of visual sources in historical analysis (especially photographs, and film) 

Teaching

I have planned, compiled materials, and taught the following courses:

University of Copenhagen. Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark. 2009-

MA level courses:
The British Migrant Experience 1800-2000
The Great War: society, experience, memory

BA level courses:
British culture and the two World Wars
Film and Society in postwar Britain

Jagiellonian University. Institute of English Philology, Krakow, Poland. 1992-2009.

•MA thesis Seminar (two years, full-time): successful supervision of over fifty individual Masters theses, the final year study written by students under the five-year university first degree programme;

• Diploma Seminar (1 year, full-time): successful supervision of over sixty diploma papers written by students under the three-year state teacher training programme

•Specialist seminars, tutorials and introductory lecture classes (including British and European survey courses, current affairs, and more specialised teaching on
social and cultural history).

Masters (2 year) and Diploma (1 year) Thesis Seminars:
•London 1800-2000 (2006-9)
•Identity, Locality and Culture in the British Isles (1998-2004)
•British Literature and History in the 20th century (1996-8)

Compulsory (Introductory) Courses:
•The Isles: from pre-history to the 21st century (A 2-semester British history survey course which I teach to at least two groups every year at both Teacher Training College and University Level) (1997-2009)

Elective Courses:
•Global Migration Since 1750 (2006-)
•The British Migrant Experience 1800-2000 (2004-)
•Britain Since 1945: Society and the Arts (2007-)
•Britain and the Two World Wars (2002-)
•The First World War: Society, Culture and Memory (1998-)
•Europe in the 20th century (2004-)
•Ireland: History and Memory in the 20th century (1995-8)
•Scotland: History, Literature and Tradition (1995-8)
•European Intellectuals 1800-2000 (1996-8)
•European Arts 1800-2000 (1996-8)
•International Relations 1800-2000 (2004-5)

English Language-related Course:
•Creative non-fiction Writing (2007-)
•Reading, writing and text analysis (1995-)

Other Teaching Activities
•Two weeks undergraduate and post-graduate (Ph.D.) teaching as Visiting Professor at Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia (2009)
•I have recently started teaching distance learning courses in creative non-fiction writing for Academic staff and for students at Högskolan Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden (2007-9)
•I also teach various courses on British history to adult learners on summer courses at the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge (2004-7)

Office hours: Monday 13-14

Selected publications

  1. Published

    Migrant Representations: life story, investigation, picture

    Leese, Peter, 15 Jan 2022, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. 304 p. (Migrations and Identities, Vol. 9).

    Research output: Book/ReportBookResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Alternative Histories of Resilience: After and Before PTSD

    Leese, Peter, 22 Nov 2022, Resilience: Militaries and Militarism. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, Springer, p. 75-98 23 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Resilience before PTSD: or, Robert Vas vs The Bomb

    Leese, Peter, 1 Nov 2022, In: Critical Military Studies. 8, 4, p. 428-442 15 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Shell Shock: Traumatic Neurosis and the British Soldiers of the First World War

    Leese, Peter, 1 Oct 2014, Revised ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 240 p.

    Research output: Book/ReportBookResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Migration, Narration, Identity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

    Leese, Peter, 2013, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. 185 p.

    Research output: Book/ReportBookResearchpeer-review

  6. Britain since 1945: Aspects of Identity

    Leese, Peter, 2006, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 262 p.

    Research output: Book/ReportBookResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    The British Migrant Experience 1700-2000 (London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002). (329pp.): an anthology

    Leese, Peter, 2002, London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 329 p.

    Research output: Book/ReportBookCommunication

Selected activities

  1. Traumatic Memories: Narratives of War in the 20th Century

    Leese, Peter (Lecturer)

    28 Jan 2015

    Activity: Talk or presentation typesLecture and oral contribution

  2. Comparative Studies in Migration and Memory

    Leese, Peter (Organizer)

    6 Nov 20147 Nov 2014

    Activity: Participating in an event - typesOrganisation of and participation in conference

  3. Medical Power and Ethics

    Leese, Peter (Participant)

    10 Feb 201412 Feb 2014

    Activity: Participating in an event - typesOrganisation of and participation in conference

  4. Displacements: forced migration and the arts

    Leese, Peter (Speaker)

    3 Oct 20135 Oct 2013

    Activity: Participating in an event - typesOrganisation of and participation in conference

  5. The Postcolonial Museum

    Leese, Peter (Speaker)

    7 Feb 2013

    Activity: Participating in an event - typesOrganisation of and participation in conference

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