Introduction
Welcome to the first issue of Volume IV of Under Construction @ Keele. At the start of this
issue, our call for papers was very well received, with a number of high quality submissions.
As such, we were unable to decide between some articles, and have opted to include a slightly
larger collection of six within the issue. These articles span a number of disciplines from film
studies and English literature, to law and history and we hope that you agree there are articles
to suit everyone, whether you are an expert or a novice in these areas of research. In addition,
entirely incidentally, a number of these articles explore the theme of gender. With a focus on
both historical attitudes and more progressive perspectives towards gender, this reflects how
topical and progressive considerations of gender have become in recent years.
In the first article in this issue, Kelly Housby explores the reigniting of mixed gender
casting, albeit taken to a new level. Kelly focuses specifically on Twelfth Night, in which
Malvolio was gender flipped to become Malvolia. This progressive gender flipping of
characters is rising in popularity, but also makes clearer the gender inequalities that remain in
both theatre and wider culture. Our second article considers infanticide and pleas of insanity
in medieval England. Lauren Dale explores how in Medieval England, infanticide was
considered purely a ‘women’s crime’, with further inequalities between married and single
women. This article in particular highlights some of the difficult truths about our historical
attitudes towards women. On a somewhat lighter note, Aimee Merrydew examines Ely
Shipley’s Boy with flowers from a Phenomenological perspective, particularly focusing on the
concept of gender growth and fluidity which is interwoven throughout the poem. To complete
this theme of gender, Daniel Skentelbery examines the rise in popularity of ‘gender bending’
in cosplay, through males cosplaying as the female character of Wonder Woman. This
powerful article highlights the restrictive binary categories of male and female gender, and
supports a more fluid and individualistic approach to gender. Moving away from gender, Aaron
Bettany provides a biopolitical analysis of human rights abuses in Nauru. With little
international legislation, Nauru is a hotspot for human rights abuse both directly and indirectly
and this article prompts questions of who has responsibility for human rights in Nauru. Our
final article within this issue is an analysis of Birdman by Natalie Webster. A film which received
widespread critical acclaim, this analysis focuses on the blurring of the narratives of reality
and fiction that run throughout the film and make it such an innovative medium.
Whilst this final format of the issue is something that I am immensely proud of, I am
indebted to my team for their effort throughout the entire process. The first thank you is
reserved for Olly. Although new to her role, Olly has seamlessly taken on the challenge of
creating a peer review database, with over 20 individuals spanning specialisms from
Psychology Philosophy to Computer Science, finance, and law and everything in-between.
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