Faculty Profile

Dr. Ali’s PhD research was focused on the British playwright, Harold Pinter (1930-2008). Her thesis dealt with the predicament of identity in selected works of Pinter.

Her key areas of interest include the life and works of Harold Pinter, Theatre of the Absurd, and Twentieth-Century British Theatre, especially the Post-War period. Dr. Ali is interested in issues pertaining to identity politics in different categories. Specifically, in the treatment and representation of the individual identity in public and private spheres, therefore concepts such as totalitarian regimes, conformity, oppression, and freedom of speech are key components of her research. Dr. Ali's interest in Harold Pinter's plays and writing, resulted in a recent book, Eroding the Language of Freedom: Identity Predicament in Selected Works of Harold Pinter (Routledge, 2018). Moreover, she is working on exploring the connections between Pinter's works and other political and social events across the world. The representation of the female characters in Harold Pinter's dramas in particular and theatre in general is one of her major interests too.

Her interest in women studies and female representation has fed into her focus on identity politics in the diaspora communities and minority/ethnic groups in different parts of the world. Therefore, during her time in the UK, she examined the lives of a group of Iraqi women in terms of their religious, cultural and linguistic identities to see how they negotiate the terms of their subject position as a first-generation diaspora group in the UK. This was part of her postdoctoral research at the University of Leeds (2016-17), which resulted in a journal article entitled, 'Where Should the Birds Fly After the Last Sky? Images and Voices of Women of the Iraqi Diaspora in the United Kingdom' (Diaspora Studies, 2018).

In her second postdoctoral project at the University of Hull (2017-19), she studied the challenges faced by Arabic women living in the UK. Moreover, Dr. Ali is interested in women's and gender representation in Islam, World Literature, and other social contexts.

Publications:

English Literature

Books:
• Farah Ali. Eroding the Language of Freedom: Predicament of Identity in Selected Works of Harold Pinter (Routledge, 2018)

https://www.routledge.com/Eroding-the-Language-of-Freedom-Identity-Predicament-in-Selected-Works/Ali/p/book/9781138080195

Articles:

• Farah Ali: Freedom as a Mirage: Sexual Commodification in Harold Pinter’s Films. Journal of Modern Literature. (Accepted) coming out 2021.

Book Reviews:

• Farah Ali. Rev. of  Shakespeare and the Culture of Paradox, by Peter G. Platt: Routledge , National Drama, Vol. 10, No.1  (April 2019)   http://www.nationaldrama.org.uk/journal/current-issue/book-reviews/shakespeare-and-the-culture-of-paradox/

Performance Reviews:

• Farah Ali. Rev. of No Man’s Land, by Harold Pinter. Hull Truck Theatre/Hull/United Kingdom, The Harold Pinter Review. (Accepted)

Social Sciences

• Farah Ali. ‘Where Should the Birds Fly After the Last Sky? Images and Voices of Women of the Iraqi Diaspora in the United Kingdom.’  Diaspora Studies, 8th June 2018.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09739572.2018.1485238?needAccess=true