Charlotte Boyce

Dr Charlotte Boyce serves as Associate Professor in Victorian Literature and Culture within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, where she has held a faculty position since 2007 after previously lecturing at Cardiff University. She actively contributes to academic governance as an executive committee member of the British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) and advisory board member for the journal Victoriographies (Edinburgh University Press).

Boyce's research centers on nineteenth-century literature and culture with dual specializations in food/hunger studies and celebrity culture. Her work examines intersections of consumption practices, gender, and identity, exemplified by her co-authored book A History of Food in Literature from the Fourteenth Century to the Present (Routledge, 2017) and current monograph Hunger and Masculinity in Nineteenth-Century Culture. Recent expansions include body image history through the British Academy-funded project 'Young Women and Body Image', analyzing historical media representations from the late 19th to 20th century.

Analysis of her 2020-2025 publications reveals evolving interdisciplinary trajectories: early work focused on Victorian consumption spaces and celebrity circles, while recent outputs increasingly integrate queer theory (e.g., George Sand studies), feminist media analysis (e.g., 'skinny jabs' commentary), and posthumous fame frameworks. Her scholarship consistently bridges literary analysis with cultural history, material culture studies, and gender theory across journals including Victorian Literature and Culture and Celebrity Studies.

As a dedicated PhD supervisor, Boyce mentors projects spanning Gypsy representations in literary imagination, Victorian/neo-Victorian fairy tales, and Emma Dent's collecting practices. Her supervisory history includes groundbreaking work on Black celebrity in the nineteenth century and Julia Margaret Cameron's photography. She coordinates the BA English Literature modules 'The Gothic' and 'Consuming Fictions: Food and Appetite in Victorian Culture', while teaching on the MA Victorian Gothic program.

Boyce's institutional engagement includes the Centre of Excellence for Heritage Innovation, and she actively participates in public scholarship through media commentary on historical body image trends. Her research methodology combines archival analysis with contemporary cultural critique, particularly evident in her British Academy project examining century-spanning media narratives targeting young women.