Clarissa K. Jacob

Clarissa K. Jacob

Miss

  • TW20 0EX

Personal profile

Research interests

My current research is centered on Women & Film, the first ever feminist film magazine, published in California during the early 1970s. It was founded by two women students at UCLA and many of its contributors have gone on to play major roles late 20th century and contemporary film theory and criticism, including scholars such as Bill Nichols, Chuck Kleinhans and Constance Penley. My project is an attempt to retrace the story of the magazine’s founding, development and demise against the tumultuous backdrop of late 1960s and early 70s America, specifically US film culture and the women’s movement.

Personal profile

Born in London but educated in French at the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle, where I now teach art and art history part-time. I’ve worked as a bookseller on and off since I left school and currently work – also part-time – for independent bookshop Nomad Books, in Parsons Green in SW London where I manage the website, make the posters, run a classic bookclub and try not to buy all the books. I live in SE London.

Educational background

I received a first class undergraduate masters degree from the Univeristy of Edinburgh in English Literature and History of Art (2009). After taking a year out working in London, I continued with a Masters in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, specialising in postwar and contemporary art, performance and installation. I wrote my MA dissertation on the first American feminist film festival, The International Festival of Women's Films that took place in 1972 a topic which partly informed my current PhD research. 

I also undertook a art and design foundation diploma at Wimbledon School of Art during my gap year in 2004-5, for which I recieved a distinction. I specialised in design for film and theatre, choosing to make a film for my final project. 

Other work

Hidden Collections (Art and Humanities Research Council & the University of Nottingham, with the British Film Institute)

I am currently a participant in the AHRC Digital Transformations funded-research project Hidden Collections, run by the University of Nottingham. This project brings together Arts and Humanties students and external partners to foster an interdisciplinary appraoch to archival reseach and its presentation via digital public engagement. As a member of the film strand, my colleagues and I have been working in collaboration with the BFI in an attempt to devise ways of bringing treasures from the BFI archive to the attention of a diverse national audience for 2013's upcoming Gothic season. 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality

Keywords

  • women's film movement
  • feminism
  • women's radical press
  • movement
  • sixties
  • seventies
  • women & film
  • pacific film archive
  • UCLA