Lauren Cochrane
PhD Researcher in History at the University of Exeter, studying images of violence during the Kenya Emergency (1952-1960).
About me
Hello! I am a PhD researcher in History at the University of Exeter, (co-supervised at the University of Southampton) studying visual representations of violence during the Kenya Emergency from the beginning of the conflict in 1952 to 2020. I have a Masters degree (MA) in history, and a Master of Letters (MLitt) Degree from the University of Dundee. I am funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP). I am also the editor of African history at the Scottish Centre for Global History (SCGH) and Lead Editor (Book Reviews) at the Midlands Historical Review.
Research
My research explores textual, visual and audio-visual representations of African and colonial violence during the Emergency, to examine how Kenya’s iconography of violence shaped British visual culture from the 1950s to 2020. My interdisciplinary project utilises visual methodologies and methods from history and film studies to interrogate British colonial archives, propaganda, newspaper archives, newsreels and mainstream cinema to examine British public discourse of the Kenya Emergency from 1952-2020.
My thesis studies how the imagery of violence in the Kenya Emergency was used by the press, politicians, activists and other non-state actors to shape public opinion in Britain from 1952 to 1960.
My research highlights the role of violent imagery in cultivating public memory in Britain revealing which types of violence in the colonial context are remembered or suppressed.
