Lars Atkin

Lars Atkin is a Lecturer in Victorian Literature at the School of English, University of Kent. They hold a PhD from Queen Mary University of London and advanced degrees from Oxford, and are actively engaged in research on colonial literature, Indigenous representation, and 19th-century periodicals. They are co-director of the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies and a member of the Centre for the Study of Empire.

Their research spans the long nineteenth century with a focus on global Victorian studies, colonial print culture, race theory, and the cultural history of representation. Key interests include transnationalism, ethnographic discourse, and the intersections of literature and empire. They employ methodologies from new imperial history and critical Indigenous studies.

Their recent publications reveal a strong focus on South African San representations, Thomas Pringle's colonial poetry, multilingualism in settler literature, and the legacies of ethnographic display. Themes of identity, race, and translocal connections recur across their interdisciplinary work, bridging literary studies with postcolonial and historical inquiry.

Scientific Awards and Recognition:

• Co-Investigator on AHRC-funded Victorian Diversities research network

Lars supervises postgraduate research in global Victorian and Romantic literature, literature and empire, and the cultural history of race. They are a member of the Postcolonial Studies Association, the British Association of Victorian Studies, and the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals. Their editorial work includes co-editing The Curran Index and a special issue of Victorian Periodicals Review on race and transnationalism.

Lars is co-director of the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies, a research hub dedicated to critical analysis of settler colonialism and Indigenous epistemologies, and contributes to the Centre for the Study of Empire’s interdisciplinary initiatives.