Wight, Linda Dr

Linda-Wight_web

Position: Senior Lecturer, Humanities/Chair, Curriculum Committee
Study area: Literature and Screen Studies
Location: Mt Helen Campus, H Building, Room 241
Phone: 5327 9705
Email: l.wight@federation.edu.au

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy- James Cook University - 2010
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Central Queensland University - 2002
Graduate Diploma Education (Secondary) Monash University - 2000
Bachelor of Arts - Monash University - 1998

Teaching

Course(s)

  • Bachelor of Arts

Study areas

  • Literature
  • Media and Screen Studies

Biography

Dr Linda Wight is Senior Lecturer, Humanities in the Institute of Education, Arts and Community. Linda completed her PhD thesis at James Cook University in 2010, examining the depiction of men and masculinities in recent science fiction. Her research is informed by gender studies, masculinities studies, feminist and queer theory, and she is currently continuing to research the way masculinities are portrayed and constructed in science fiction and other popular genres. Her publications include analyses of men and masculinities in the Indiana Jones films, the James Bond films starring Daniel Craig, and science fiction films starring Tom Cruise. She has also published on works by significant science fiction authors including Ursula K. Le Guin, Marge Piercy and Lois McMaster Bujold. Linda joined Federation University (formerly University of Ballarat) in 2011, teaching Literature and Screen Studies. Her research informs her teaching which is largely focused on contemporary popular genres including fantasy, science fiction, children’s literature and young adult fiction, and issues of gender and sexuality.

Areas of expertise

  • Science fiction and fantasy literature and film
  • Masculinities studies
  • Gender and sexuality studies

Research interests

  • Men and masculinities in science fiction and fantasy
  • Masculinities in film and other screen texts
  • Queer theory and performative theories of gender

Supervision

Completions

Chloe Benson, “Bi What Means: Paratextual and Filmic Representations of Bisexuality in Contemporary Cinema” (2017). Associate supervisor. PhD.

Caitlin Herington, “Beyond the Princess, the Priestess and the Galactic Kitchen Sink: Reformulation of Feminine Roles in Certain Works of Lois McMaster Bujold” (2021) Principal supervisor. PhD.

Kirstyn McDermott. “Never Afters: Female Friendship and Collaboration in Contemporary Re-visioned Fairy Tales by Women” (2020). Principal supervisor. PhD.

Courtney O’Neill. “The Good, the Bad, the Ambivalent: Investigating Patriarchal and Complex Representations of Motherhood in Crime Television Series.” Associate supervisor. PhD.

Jennifer O’Sullivan, “‘Beyond Home and Sex?’: Gender and Sexuality in Elizabeth Moon’s Paksworld Series” (2019). Associate supervisor. Masters.

Melissa Watts. “Women in the Australian Cartographic Corps during World War Two: Their Work and Ongoing Legacy in Australian History and Culture.” Principal supervisor. PhD.

Dominic Williams. “Unnatural Alliances: Immanent Reading and the Speculative Sensations of Life” (2019). Associate supervisor. PhD.

Current

Adrian Marshall. “Being in the Virtual: Martin Heidegger and What it Means To Be In Virtual Reality.” Associate supervisor. PhD.

Jennifer O’Sullivan. “A Fine Line: Representations of Body Modification in Contemporary Media.” Principal supervisor. PhD.

Julie Sharp. “‘Breathed through silver’: A Creative and Stylistic Exploration of the Language of Secondary World Fantasy.” Principal supervisor. PhD.

Publications

Book chapters

Wight, Linda. “Cruising into the Future: The Redemption of ‘Authentic’ Masculinity in the Science Fiction Films of Tom Cruise.” Starring Tom Cruise. Ed. Sean Redmond. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2021. 152-168. Print.

Wight, Linda. “‘I came to find my father’: Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Lost Father.” Excavating Indiana Jones: Essays on the Films and Franchise. Ed. Randy Laist. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2020. Print.

Wight, Linda. "Learning to be Men: Masculinities, Pedagogy and Science Fiction." The Pedagogies of Cultural Studies. Ed. Andrew Hickey. New York; London: Routledge, 2016. 39-50. Print.

Wight, Linda. “Reclaiming Virtue and (Post)humanity in Moon.” Science Fiction and the Abolition of Man. Eds. Mark J. Boone and Kevin C. Neece. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, (2017). Print.

Wight, Linda. "Broken Brothers in Arms: Acting the Man in The Warrior's Apprentice." Lois McMaster Bujold: Essays on a Modern Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Ed. Janet Brennan Croft, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013. 116-133. Print.

Refereed journal articles

Wight, Linda. “‘Somebody to Love’: The Queer Possibilities of Amazon Prime’s Good Omens.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 34.1 (2023): 211-237.

Wight, Linda and Simon Cooper. “Binge-Watching: Cultural Studies and Developing Critical Literacy in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism.” Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 36.5 (2022): 711-22. DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2022.2060190.

Wight, Linda and Nicole Gadd. “Sublime and Grotesque: The Aesthetic Development of Weird Fiction in the Work of H. P. Lovecraft and China Mieville.” Revista Abusoes 4.4 (2017). DOI: 10.12957/abusoes.2017.27428.

Wight, Linda. "Killing Mother: Female Influence, Authority and Erasure in the Daniel Craig James Bond Films.” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 4.2&3 (2015): 177-188. DOI: 10.1386/ajpc.4.2-3.177_1

Wight, Linda. "Reconciliation in Ursula K. Le Guin's 'The Matter of Seggri'." Paradoxa 21 (2008): 166-83. Print.

Non-Refereed journal articles

Wight, Linda. "'Old Dog, New Tricks': Resurrecting James Bond in Skyfall." Bright Lights Film Journal. 14 April 2014. Web.

Refereed conference proceedings

Kuttainen, Victoria, Anita Lundberg, Linda Wight and Nigel Chang. "Honest Reflections: Big Ideas and Real Life Experiences of a New First Year BA." Enhancing Learning Experiences in Higher Education: International Conference. Hong Kong. 2010.

Wight, Linda. "Piercy's Gendered Cyborgs: Hope, Threat, and Blurred Boundaries." The Wiscon Chronicles: Volume 1. Ed. L. Timmel Duchamp. Seattle: Aqueduct Press, 2007. 74-81. Print.

Wight, Linda. "Magic, Art, Religion, Science: Blurring the Boundaries of Science and Science Fiction in Marge Piercy's Cyborgian Narrative." When Genres Collide: Selected Essays from the 37th Annual Meeting of the Science Fiction Research Association. Ed. Thomas J. Morrissey and Oscar De Los Santos. Waterbury, CT: Fine Tooth Press, 2007.133-40. Print.