معرفی
Professor James Smith is a faculty member in the Department of English Studies at Durham University, where he has held his position since 2012. His research centers on the intersections of modern literature, culture, and British intelligence services, with particular focus on surveillance, propaganda, and covert operations. He currently leads the Leverhulme Trust-funded project 'The SOE, Covert Action, and the British Cultural Imaginary' (2023-2027) examining the Special Operations Executive's cultural legacy.
Smith's research interests include the historical relationship between literature and secret state operations, as evidenced by his book British Writers and MI5 Surveillance, 1930-1960 analyzing security files on major authors. His work extends to contemporary cultural productions, investigating how spy fiction and film (particularly the James Bond franchise and Black Mirror) engage with modern surveillance paradigms. His scholarship consistently draws on archival materials from intelligence agencies to explore how writers have actively participated in, rather than merely been subjected to, state security apparatuses.
His recent publications reveal strong thematic continuity across decades, with consistent focus on intelligence-community representations in cultural works. The 15 most recent articles show predominant engagement with Special Operations Executive legacies (2023-2024), Cold War propaganda mechanisms (2022-2024), and contemporary surveillance discourse in media (2016-2019), demonstrating his sustained scholarly trajectory in intelligence-literature intersections.
- Philip Leverhulme Prize (2013) for contributions to literary scholarship
- Leverhulme Trust funding for two major projects (2023-2027 and previous WWII propaganda study)
- AHRC grant for 'COVID-19 rumours in historical context' as Co-Investigator
Smith actively supervises doctoral students including Ash Percival-Borley (SOE oral history), Dazheng Gao, Russell Shanks, and Xiaoge Wang. He has held significant administrative roles including chair of the undergraduate Board of Examiners and leadership of the department's Athena Swan self-assessment team, which secured the department's first bronze award in 2020. His teaching includes the specialized third-year module 'Modern Literature and the British Secret State' alongside broader departmental contributions.
