Dr Becca Harrison

Professional biography

My research seeks to uncover material histories and geographies of visual culture. I'm excited by both intersectional feminist and interdisciplinary approaches that help us understand the production, exhibition, and reception of media, and I'm always keen to learn more about how identity and power inform people's relationships with technology. My first book, From Steam to Screen: Cinema, the Railways and Modernity (I B Tauris, 2018), drew on archival research to reveal how cinema and the railways shaped experiences of modernity and empire in Britain. Meanwhile, my work on 'projectionettes,' explores women's labour practices in projection spaces. 

At the moment, I'm conducting research on Star Wars - my second book, BFI Film Classics: The Empire Strikes Back (Bloomsbury, 2020), offers an introduction to my work on the films and their production contexts. I'm exploring how the franchise is entangled with neo-colonial industrial practices by way of land use for location shoots; the extraction of raw materials for production and onscreen assets; military contracts; and both labour for, and the distribution of, merchandise. Focusing on the particular role of the four nations in providing studios, crews, and locations, the project asks how, and why, the UK's environmental and economic contexts have proven so crucial to the franchise's success.

The 'Environmental Impact of Filmmaking' project (funded by the AHRC) has so far enabled the project to carry out interviews with below-the-line crew members about prop and costume making in a sustainability context, to run a focus group on eco-initiatives at different stages of a film's lifecycle, and to work with an environmental scientist on carbon emission calculations for a number of onscreen assets. It also includes a survey about people's experiences of location shoots. Over the next few months, I'm planning to trace - where possible - land rights and economic incentives at a number of sites across England, Scotland, and Wales. You can read more about the work, the project partners (BAFTA albert and the National Science and Media Museum), and access educational resources for industry at https://eifproject.com/. 

Alongside my main project, I also write about identity and representation both in front of, and behind, the camera. Recent work includes writing about auto/biography in relation to film star Mabel Normand, a chapter on ethical film canon and self/community care, and an article on queer history-making in Channel 4's It's A Sin. 

Since joining the OU I have authored a short course called 'Film and the Environment,' which introduces students to significant debates about cinema's reliance on the natural world, as well as filmic representations of climate change. Previously, I have designed, written and taught both undergraduate and postgraduate courses on film and television history, British cinema aesthetics, and the technological relationships between different media industries such as film, radio, television, and computing. In my previous role, I established a Masters programme in Film Curation, and in doing so developed new approaches to learning and assessment in an emerging field of study. My teaching aims to encourage learners to imagine new ways of understanding the world through history, theory, and practice. 

I am happy to support postgraduate research on a variety of topics, and invite proposals that take a historical approach to UK and/or US screen cultures from the 19th to 21st centuries (e.g., by drawing on the daily press, museum objects, architectural drawings, government records, trade union documents, or film ephemera). Projects addressing histories of marginalised people or communities in relation to filmmaking, industry/labour, exhibition, criticism, curation, or audiences are also welcome. 

I regularly discuss my research in the UK and internationally, including keynote talks, panel discussions (Reclaim the Frame, British Film Institute), and events for both public (Flatpack Festival) and industry (British Film Designers Guild Art Dept Takeover) audiences. My writing appears in a variety of outlets including Sight & Sound, LA Review of Books, The Mary Sue, and Screen Queens, in addition to academic journals such as MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture and Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 

I have organised screenings and arts events in London and Glasgow, and consulted for both local organisations and national institutions (National Railway Museum). I have also spoken at festivals, conferences, arts venues, and cinemas across the UK about my research on, and experiences of, the film industry. 

In an academic context, I lead the 'Environmental Impact of Filmmaking' research network, which brings together academics and practitioners interested in making the screen industries eco-friendlier. Industry collaborators span England, Wales, and Scotland, private companies and public organisations, and film studios and freelancers. 

I am also a co-founder and co-lead of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies special interest group, 'Media and the Environment.' I am on the editorial board for the MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture imprint with Punctum Books, and serve as an external examiner at Sheffield Hallam, where I support the BA Film Studies. 

Further to my academic collaborations, I continue to work with a range of people and organisations to transform how universities prevent and responds to gender-based violence. 

I have contributed to the Society for Cinema and Media Studies in a range of roles, including as co-chair of the Gender and Feminisms Caucus (formerly the Women's Caucus). I have also been involved in a network including scholars, activists and NGOs working in support of indigenous communities in Mexico that are resisting and recording the effects of the climate emergency.