Professor Charlotte Baker

Profile

Charlotte Baker is Professor of French and Critical Disability Studies and Co-Lead of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Health Research Hub. She was previously Principal of Lonsdale College and Faculty Associate Dean for Postgraduate Research.

Her research focuses on disability and stigma in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular interest in the genetic condition albinism. She has published widely on the socio-cultural realities of living with albinism, cultural representations of albinism, and the human rights abuses against people with albinism.

Charlotte set up the Albinism in Africa project (Wellcome Trust, 2014 and 2015) and collaborated with the Independent Expert on Albinism, the Witchcraft and Human Rights Information Network and other partners to table a Resolution calling for action on harmful practices resulting from witchcraft-related beliefs at the UN Human Rights Council, which was passed in 2021.

Charlotte leads the AHRC GCRF-funded Disability and Inclusion in Africa project with Dr Elvis Imafidon (SOAS, University of London), Prof. Emelda Ngufor Samba (University of Yaounde, Cameroon), and Prof. Kobus Moolman (University of the Western Cape, South Africa).

Charlotte is also interested in Francophone and Anglophone African literature and has published widely in this area including, most recently, on the African dictator-novel.

She is Vice-President of the Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies, an Editorial Board member for the Liverpool University Press Francophone Postcolonial Studies series, an Editorial Board member of the Bulletin of French Studies, she sits on the Advisory Board for the international NGO Standing Voice and is a member of the Working Committee of The International Network Against Accusations of Witchcraft and Associated Harmful Practices.

Research Grants

June 2023: AHRC Follow-on Funding for Engagement and Impact 'Alternative Explanations for Disability: Inspiring patient-centered care among healthcare practitioners through the arts'

March 2023: FASS Policy Fund ‘Informing Policy for the Alternative Care of Children with Albinism Vulnerable to Attacks’

February 2023: FASS Research Fund application for a project on albinism in West Africa with Sierra Leone Albinism Association and Medical Assistance Sierra Leone

February 2023: Joy Welch Fund for a project on autism in Kenya with Advantage Africa and Kenyan Autistic Society

February 2023: AHRC Impact Acceleration Account - Stimulating positive action in response to the UN Resolution on the Elimination of Harmful Practices related to Accusations of Witchcraft and Ritual Attacks

October 2022: ESRC Impact Acceleration Account award for a project on albinism in Sierra Leone with Sierra Leone Albinism Association and Medical Assistance Sierra Leone

January 2020: UKRI Quality Research - Strategic Priorities Fund (QR-SPF): Promoting Effective Policy Making to Prevent Harmful Practices related to Beliefs in Witchcraft

December 2019: AHRC Global Challenges Networking Grant: Disability and Inclusion in Africa

July 2019: FASS Impact Funding to further disseminate education pack on albinism in Tanzania

June 2019: ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Funding for fieldwork on albinism in Malawi

April 2019: Lancaster University Impact Funding for data collection towards a UN Resolution

Feb 2018: Lancaster University Impact Funding for a Photographic exhibition at the UN headquarters in Geneva

September 2017: Lancaster University Impact Funding to translate education pack on albinism into Swahili

Feb 2017: Global Challenges Kick Starter Funding for a project on Arts for Social Change in Africa

Feb 2017: Lancaster University Impact Funding to develop an education pack on albinism for Tanzania

Feb 2017: FASS Impact and Knowledge Exchange Grant to bring delegates to the UN Expert Meeting in September 2017

Aug 2016: Lancaster University Impact Funding to plan a UN Expert Meeting at the UN in Geneva Jan 2016: FASS Student Engagement Funding for “Translation Lancaster”, a postgraduate conference, masterclass, careers and networking eventSept 2015: FASS Impact and Knowledge Exchange Grant to collaborate with Standing Voice on a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Grant ApplicationNovember 2015: Wellcome Trust Medical Humanities International Small Grant, 'Changing Perceptions of Albinism in Africa'

May 2014: Knowledge Exchange Fellowship, Lancaster University, '21st Century Perspectives on Albinism in Africa'

Oct 2013: Yves Hervouet Fund for Anglo-French Relations (with Delphine Grass). 'Multilingual French Identities conference'

May 2013: Wellcome Trust Medical History and Humanities Small Grant - 'Exploring Interdisciplinary Approaches to Albinism'

May 2011: Society for French Studies (with Greg Kerr). Minorités en vue colloquium

January 2009: Lancaster University Small Grants Scheme, 'Albinism in Apartheid South Africa pilot study'.

Membership of Associations

Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies (President 2015-2018; Vice President 2018-) www.sfps.ac.uk

Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research (Co-Director 2015-2018) http://www.transculturalwriting.com

African Literature Association

African Studies Association UK

Royal African Society

Society for French Studies

Career Details

Charlotte Baker is Professor of French and Critical Disability Studies and Deputy Head of the Department of Languages and Cultures. She was Principal of Lonsdale College from 2015-17 and Associate Dean for Postgraduate Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities from 2017-2019.

Charlotte joined the Department of Languages and Cultures at Lancaster University in 2007 having completed her doctoral studies at Nottingham University. After graduating with her BA degree, Charlotte worked for two years as a Bilingual PA to the Head of Corporate Finance at the First National Bank of Chicago in London. During her doctoral studies, she worked as a lectrice at Universite Lyon III and taught French language and culture at the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham.

Research Overview

Charlotte Baker is interested in contemporary French literature, and postcolonial African literature written in French and English.

Charlotte's research interests focus on the representation of marginalised and stigmatised groups in sub-Saharan Africa, theories and representations of disability, as well as comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to the body and identity. She is particularly interested in the realities and representations of albinism in African contexts and has published widely in this area.

PhD Supervision Interests

Charlotte Baker is happy to discuss PhD proposals relating to: - Francophone and Anglophone African literatures - Critical disability studies - Disability in African contexts - Intersections between the arts and human rights, disability and the body. Charlotte particularly welcomes projects taking a comparative or interdisciplinary approach.