February 4, 2026 (5pm - 6:30pm)

University of London, UK (LG01, Professor Stuart Hall Building, Goldsmiths)

Speaker: Dr Jessica Martin, University of Leeds

Chair: Prof Jo Littler, Goldsmiths 

https://www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id=15778

Free, all welcome, no need to book. Part of the MCCS Community Lecture Series.  

In this talk, Jess Martin will introduce her new book, Feminisms and Domesticity in Times of Crisis: The Rise of the Austerity Celebrity.  The book explores the rise of traditionally “feminine” domestic practices exemplified by key celebrity figures who have forged their public personas in articulation with austerity culture, exploring the potential of the domestic space to be a site for resistance toward or complicity in accepting rising inequalities. The talk will consider how this nostalgic turn to domesticity has intensified during the convergence of crises in the UK, reinforcing narratives of heteronormative femininity, patriotic stoicism, and the so-called British Blitz spirit, while helping to obscure the escalating inequalities of austerity-era Britain. Martin argues that the convergence of nostalgia and femininity has produced new discourses of performative thrift, feminized labour and aspirational domesticity which are key resources for the justification of austerity policy. 

About the speaker

Jessica Martin is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Leeds, where she runs the MA in Gender Studies. Her research interests are in feminist cultural studies, and she has published widely on politics and popular culture, postfeminism and contemporary celebrity and digital cultures. She is assistant editor for The European Journal of Cultural Studies and her new book Feminisms and Domesticity at Times of Crisis was released with Bloomsbury in 2025.