Beth Price
Thesis title: Colonialism undressed: Negotiating nudity and the female body in media, arts, and popular medical science in Republican China (1910s – 1949)
PhD supervisors:
Background
Beth Price is a PhD student in the school of Literatures, Languages & Cultures at the University of Edinburgh supported by the SGSAH AHRC DTP studentship. Her research seeks to investigate the interaction between gender, medicine, and media in Republican China using a transcultural approach.
She is a co-founder of Brekadown Education, an online education platform and community which seeks to bridge the gap between formal education and community-centred learning. Since 2020, Breakdown Education has received outreach funding from the British Ecological Society, and has worked in collaboration with schools, national festivals, and the University of Tübingen. Beth's own writing has been widely published in magazines such as 'It's Freezing in LA' (2021) and 'Salty' (2020). She is also a blog editor and member of the steering comittee for the Women's History Network.
Qualifications
2019 - 2021: Master of Chinese Studies, University of Edinburgh. Thesis title: 'How Far Can Pan Yuliang's Nudes Be Considered "Feminist" Art?'
2013 - 2016: BA Hons. History (Cantab).
Responsibilities & affiliations
2021 - 2026: Steering Comittee Member & Blog Editor, Women's History Network (WHN)
Undergraduate teaching
Tutor on Modern China in Literature and Film A (2024-2025)
Research summary
My research interest is primarily in visual history and gender studies. I am interested in the interaction between colonial and colonised cultures, and the intersections between gender and national identities.
Current research interests
My PhD research explores nudity and the female body in media, arts and popularised medical science during the Republican Period in China (1911 - 1949) in the context of feminism, semi-colonialism, and a new transcultural medical discourse. I will consider the interaction and tension between culture and science in relation to their impact on women's lives and gender roles.Past research interests
My Master's thesis investigated the radical nude art of Pan Yuliang 潘玉良 (1895-1977) and I have written about the use and impact of women's bodies in Chinese propaganda during the Second Sino-Japanese War.Knowledge exchange
I am a blog editor and member of the steering committee of the Women's History Network (WHN). I am a co-director of Breakdown Education, a platform which provides a bridge between science and humanities and between formal education and community-led learning. With Breakdown Education, I have led online and in-person workshops and courses for adults and children. My non-academic writing has been widely published in online magazines including "It's Freezing in LA" (2021) and "Salty" (2020).
Current project grants
SGSAH AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (2023)
Past project grants
British Ecological Society Outreach Grant OR1026 (2021)
Papers delivered
'Feminist Nudes? An Analysis of Pan Yuliang’s Nude Female Portraits in the Context of Chinese and European Modernity.' Joint East Asian Studies Conference, June 2024.
'There is no Self, there is only Perception: The Transitional Power of Pan Yuliang's Self-Portraits.' Glasgow College of Arts Postgraduate Conference 2021