Kate Ash-Irisarri
Lecturer in Late Medieval Scottish & English Literature
Contact details
- Tel: 0131 651 1294
- Email: k.ash-irisarri@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Room 2.42
50 George Sq - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9LH
Availability
Student Drop-in hours
Semester 1: Tuesday 11.30-12.30; Wednesday 12-1
Background
A first-generation student, Kate was an undergraduate at the University of Oxford; she then completed an MA and PhD at The University of Manchester. Before coming to Edinburgh in 2022, Kate previously taught at the universities of Manchester, Liverpool Hope, Nottingham and Bristol. She also spent three years working with the University of Manchester's Widening Participation team (2010-13), first as the co-ordinator of the university's flagship secondary school access programme (Manchester Gateways) and then as the project officer for the RCUK-funded School-University Partnership Initiative (SUPI). Kate is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Qualifications
MA (Oxon); MA, PhD (Manchester)
PGCHE (Learning & Teaching in Higher Education)
Responsibilities & affiliations
- Co-Director, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of Edinburgh
- Editor, Scottish Literature and Culture, The Literary Encyclopedia
- Reviewer, Older Scots, The Year's Work in English Studies
- Council Member, Scottish Text Society
- Editorial Board Member, Read Older Scots
- Treasurer, The Scottish Medievalists
Undergraduate teaching
I teach pre-1800 literature, with a particular focus on the medieval period.
Pre-Honours Teaching
- Scottish Literature 2A
- Literary Studies 1B
Honours Teaching
- Death & Dying in Late Medieval Literature
- The Field Full of Folk
- Canterbury Tales
- Shakespeare: Modes & Genres
- Reading Theory 2 (Course Organiser)
I also convene the Year Abroad Long Essay.
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
Kate is open to PhD enquiries related to any aspect of her research interests. She would be happy to receive enquireies from prospective PhD students on a range of topics, particularly those related to mdieval Scotland or England across the later Middle Ages. Projects which touch on themes such as historical writing, memory, the history of emotions, book history, and Anglo-Scottish relations are especially welcome.
Past PhD students supervised
B. Byrne. MScR, 'Transcribing MS 218's Richard Coer de Lyon through the Lens of Hyperspectral Imaging Along with a Comparative Analysis to Other Transcriptive Versions'
Research summary
I specialise in the literature of late medieval Scotland and England, with a particular focus on memory and the history of emotions. My book, 'Rewriting the Past in Scottish Literature, 1350-1550' (2025), examines how writers in Scotland and the Anglo-Scottish borders signal a particular concern with affect and the remembrance of Scottish history as a basis for articulating communal identity. Its findings offer new frameworks for understanding the significant role played by the affective dimension of memory in crafting a distinctive literary tradition of national writing.