Charlotte O'Neill

School of English

Research Student

CONeill2@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Charlotte O'Neill
School of English
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Qualifications

BA in English Literature, University of Sheffield, 2016

MA in English Literature, University of Sheffield, 2017

Research interests

Entitled 'Edward Carpenter: Beyond the Human,' my thesis explores a critically underexamined interest of the notable late Victorian socialist and LGBT+ rights pioneer: his interest in nonhuman animality. My research interrogates Carpenter's animal advocacy, including his opposition to meat-eating and vivisection. I also unpick the ways in which the more-than-human manifests in his writing more broadly. I am especially interested in Carpenter’s esoteric philosophical output: I argue that, influenced by Hinduism and vitalism, his philosophy of cosmic unity challenges the boundaries of the 'human.'

I first studied Carpenter as part of a SURE Scheme funded research project during the second year of my undergraduate degree, proceeding to write about him in my undergraduate dissertation, 'Concentric Circles: Understanding Edward Carpenter's Philosophy of Unity.'

I am interested in fin de siècle radicalism and animal rights, particularly antivivisection, vegetarianism, and the work of the Humanitarian League/Henry Stephens Salt. I work within Animal Studies and ecocriticism.

Publications

Book reviews

Research group

Supervisions:

  • Dr John Miller
  • Professor Robert McKay
Professional activities and memberships

Sheffield Animal Studies Research Centre (ShARC) reading group organiser

Conference co-organiser, Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, UK and Ireland (ASLE-UKI) Out of the Blue Postgraduate Conference, University of Sheffield (online), 2020.

Member of ASLE-UKI and the British Society for Literature and Science (BSLS)

Tutor at the Brilliant Club - creator of the KS4 programme 'Edward Carpenter and the Past, Present and Future of Animal Rights'