Dr Zoë Enstone

Teaching

I teach or have taught on the following modules:

• Eboracum: York, Space and Place
• Argufying: Rhetoric, Reason and Reflection
• Identity and 'Otherness': The Self and Society
• Truth and Invention: Culture, Myth and Representation
• Freedom and Justice
• Imagining the Future: Environment, Apocalypse and the Digital Revolution
• Independent Project
• Introduction to Literary Studies 1
• Writing, Research, and Literature
• Gender and Sexualities
• Historicising the Contemporary
• World, Globe, Literature
• Speculative Bodies
• Influence and Intertext

I also supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and supervise PhD Researchers.

I am always interested in discussing ideas for postgraduate research and particularly welcome proposals on medieval/early modern literature and medievalism more generally, but especially Arthurian Romance, representations of women and the supernatural. I would also welcome projects on the representation of witches, magic and the supernatural in literature and culture more broadly.

Research

My research background is in interdisciplinary medieval and renaissance studies, with a particular focus on the literature of these periods. I am especially interested in transition and transformation, and in the ways these shifts and developments intersect with concepts of power and within the context of an intertextual dialogue.

My PhD thesis explored the changing representation of the character Morgan le Fay by examining possible sources and analogues in classical, Old Irish and Old Welsh sources, as well as her depiction in Old French and a range of Middle English texts. This work laid the foundation for my continuing research into magic and gender in medieval literature, the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance/early modern period, and the field of medievalism.

More recently, I have explored the influence of medieval texts on the development of the ghost story, as well as the transformation of key figures such as Morgan le Fay and Melusine across different literary traditions. This is connected to my role as co-lead of the Interdisciplinary Witches Research group. In this role, I convene regular meetings and events and am working on my own project on the representation of the Pendle Witches. From 2025, I have been commissioned to deliver public talks across the UK on the portrayal of witches in literature and popular culture.

I also have interests in pedagogy/andragogy, especially in interdisciplinary contexts as well as the integration of academic skills into Higher Education teaching.

Publications

Book Chapters and Journal Articles

‘As Easy as 1-2-3? Reflections on a Programme Redesign: Implementing the 1-2-3 Delivery Model’, Journal of the Foundation Year Network, 7, 2025, pp. 58-69. https://jfyn.co.uk/index.php/ukfyn/article/view/105

‘What blended learning taught me about the strengths of collaboration for interdisciplinarity’, in Transformative Practice in Higher Education: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning, ed. Alicja Syska, Carina Buckley, Gita Sedghi, Nicola Grayson, Routledge, 2025, pp. 147-54 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003503149-20. This was an invited submission following on from the journal article I wrote for the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. As part of the launch for this collection, I also contributed to a podcast (available at: Transformative Practice: podcast - Google Drive) and a launch event where we shared innovative practice (10^th September 2025).

‘Blended learning opportunities: skills for working with primary sources’, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, 22, 2021. DOI: 10.47408/jldhe.vi22.668.

‘Melusine and Purgatorial Punishment: The Changing Nature of Fays’, in Melusine’s Footprint: Tracing the Legacy of a Medieval Myth, ed. Misty Urban et al. Brill, 2017, pp.259-81. DOI: 10.1163/9789004355958_016

(with M. Newman) ‘Forming Firm Foundations: Integrating Interdisciplinarity in the Arts and Humanities’, In: It’s all adult education: Proceedings of 44^th Annual Conference. Ed. Lindsey Fraser and Rosa Mas Giralt. Lifelong Learning Centre, University of Leeds, in conjunction with the Standing Conference on Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults, 2015.

Forthcoming:

‘A Medieval Ghost Story: The Awntyrs Off Arthur and Ghostly Warnings in Medieval English Arthurian Romances’. For the edited collection: New Directions in the Ghost Story, to be published with Palgrave.

Electronic Publications

‘On Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World’, in Terra Two: An Ark for Off-World Survival ed. Liesl King, Rob Edgar and Adam Smith <https://yorkstjohnterratwo.com/>, 2019

 ‘The Alliterative Morte Arthure’, in The Literary Encyclopedia (Medieval and Early Modern England) ed. Jamie McKinstry <https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38803>, 2019.

'The Vulgate Merlin', in The Malory Project, directed by Takako Kato and designed by Nick Hayward <http://www.maloryproject.com/vulgatemerlin_intro.php>

‘Malory’s Sources’, in The Malory Project, directed by Takako Kato and designed by Nick Hayward <http://www.maloryproject.com/malory_sources.php>

‘The Alliterative Morte Arthure’, in The Malory Project, directed by Takako Kato and designed by Nick Hayward <http://www.maloryproject.com/ama_intro.php>

‘John Hardyng's Chronicle’, in The Malory Project, directed by Takako Kato and designed by Nick Hayward <http://www.maloryproject.com/hardyng_intro.php>

Editions and Catalogue Entries

'The Roman War Episode', transcribed and edited by Jennifer De Lillo, Pip Willcox, Gavin Cole, Zoë Enstone, and Takako Kato, in The Malory Project, directed by Takako Kato and designed by Nick Hayward <http://www.maloryproject.com/>

‘Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 198’ by Elaine Treharne, Zoë Enstone, Hollie Morgan and Johanna Green, in The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220, edited by Orietta Da Rold, Takako Kato, Mary Swan and Elaine Treharne <https://www.le.ac.uk/english/em1060to1220/mss/EM.CCCC.198.htm>

‘London, British Library, Cotton Caligula A. xv’ by Takako Kato, Zoë Enstone, Molly Hogan, Hollie Morgan and George Younge, in The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220, edited by Orietta Da Rold, Takako Kato, Mary Swan and Elaine Treharne <https://www.le.ac.uk/english/em1060to1220/mss/EM.BL.Cali.A.xv.htm>

‘London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian D. xiv’ by Elaine Treharne, Orietta Da Rold, Zoë Enstone, Hollie Morgan, Owen Roberson, William Green and Takako Kato, in The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220, edited by Orietta Da Rold, Takako Kato, Mary Swan and Elaine Treharne <https://www.le.ac.uk/english/em1060to1220/mss/EM.BL.Vesp.D.xiv.htm>

Pedagogic Resources

Working with Primary Sources, < https://zenstone9.wixsite.com/primarysources>, 2020 (updated: 2021).

Kickstart, <http://www.study.llc.leeds.ac.uk/>, 2014 (updated: 2015; 2016; 2017).

‘Drafting, editing and proofreading’ in: ASK Brunel Academic Writing Series, <http://vimeo.com/51068121>, 2012 and <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIiM60A3Ai4>, 2013.

‘Writing Conclusions’ in: ASK Brunel Academic Writing Series, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwJhdW36Yq0>, 2013.

(with C. Hopf and C. McMillan) Speaking Up, <http://askspeakingup.wix.com/speaking-up>, 2012.

Recent conferences and events

• 23^rd July 2025: Public Lecture: ‘The History of Witchcraft in Popular Culture’, Seed Talks. The Wardrobe, Leeds.
• 20^th June 2025: The Interdisciplinary Witch Conference: Witches in Culture, History and Society. Conference Coordinator and presented: Paper Title: ‘Fact and Fiction: Literary Representations of the Pendle ‘Witches.’
• 11 May 2025. Online Witch Summit. Seed Talks. Talk Title: ‘More than Wicked: Fictional Witches’.
• 5 December 2024: Words Matter Lecture. Annual English Literature Lecture Series. Lecture Title: ‘Witch; sorceress; fairy; fay; goddess? Magical women in the literature of the fifteenth century and today.’ Also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA-ycfm9hUA
• 30 October 2024: ‘Something wicked this way comes’? (Macbeth, 4.1)​: ‘Interdisciplinary Witches’ and ‘Hauntology and Spectrality’ Research Groups Halloween Symposium​. York St John University. Symposium Coordinator.
• 15 April 2024: Research Showcase. English Literature, York St John University (public event). Title: ‘Knight Frights: Medieval Ghosts’.
• 2 December 2023: Romancing the Gothic: International Online Lecture Series. Lecture Title: ‘Knight Frights: Arthurian Ghosts and The Medieval Ghost Story’. Also available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCdEvda3U3I
• 31 October 2023: ‘Toil and Trouble: A mini-symposium in search of the interdisciplinary witch’. York St John University. Symposium Coordinator and Contributor. Paper Title: ‘Literary Transformations of a Pendle ‘Witch’.
• 31 March – 1 April 2022: ‘Virtually Undisciplined: Diversifying Higher Education and Research through interconnectivity’. Women in Academia Support Network. Member of Conference Organisation Team.
• 8 March 2022: Research Community Meeting. Association of Learning Developers in Higher Education (Invited Speaker). Title: ‘Dialogic Feedback: A Project’.
• 7-8 July 2021: Foundation Year Network Conference. Keele University. Title: ‘Is blended better? Interdisciplinary provision, student choice and ambiguous online realities’.
• 6-8 July 2021: Talk about Teaching for Social Justice. York St John University. Title: ‘Mind the Skills Gap: Challenging the Deficit Model for WP Learners in an Inter- (or Multi-) disciplinary Context’.
• 17 October 2020: York Literature Festival. Paper Title: ‘York in Literature’.
• 5-6 November 2019: Crisis, Gender and the Politics of Time in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods. University of Southern Denmark. Paper Title: ‘Morgan le Fay, Nymue and the Ravages of Time: Women, Readers and Subversion in Malory’s Morte Darthur’.
• 10-11 July 2019: Foundation Year Network Conference. University of Sussex. Title: ‘Academic Dragons’ Den: Agency and Decision-making as Critical Classroom Tool’.
• 4 July 2019: Bodies of Knowledge . York St John University. Paper Title: ‘Can appearances be deceptive? Facial Hair and Identity in Sir Orfeo’.
• 5 February 2019: Research Into Professional Practice in Learning and Education. York St John University. Paper Title: ‘Feedback Engagement: Supporting Academic Writing Development’.
• 9-11 April 2018: The 16th Biennial Medieval Insular Romance Conference. Cardiff University. Paper Title: ‘To Beard Identity in its Den: Sir Orfeo’s Transformations’.
• 12-13 July 2017: Foundation Year Network Conference. University of Warwick. Paper Title: ‘Feedback Dialogues: Supporting Academic Development in the Foundation Year and in Transition to Level One’
• 3-6 July 2017: International Medieval Congress. University of Leeds. Paper Title: ‘Sir Orfeo’s Beard’.
• 5-6 January 2017: Student Education Conference and Digital Festival 2017. University of Leeds. Paper Title: ‘Sharing the word: Academic writing and developing a feedback dialogue’.
• 4-7 July 2016: International Medieval Congress. University of Leeds. Paper Title: ‘“A pade pikes on the polle”: Women and Punishment in the Later Middle English Romances’.
• 7 April 2016: Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching: Frameworks and Practice. University of Sheffield. Paper Title: ‘Facilitating Interdisciplinary Encounters for Foundation Year Learners: A Module Case Study’.
• 3-4 March 2016: Inspire – Sharing Great Practice in Arts and Humanities Teaching and Learning. Higher Education Academy. Paper Title: ‘Overt and covert methods: incorporating subject-specific and generic skills into an Arts and Humanities Foundation Year programme’
• 7-9 September 2015: International Arthurian Society: British Branch Conference. University of York. Paper Title: ‘The iconography of Arthurian women: Morgan le Fay and Melusine’.

Professional activities

I am currently external examiner for the University of Nottingham and have previously been external examiner for Durham University, Blackburn College (University of Lancaster), University of Chester, Bradford College and have been an external panel member for validations at Newman University and (before I worked here) York St John University.

I was a researcher on the ‘Exploring Lecturers’ Inclusive Formative Assessment Practices in Higher Education’ project in 2022-3, Deputy Editor of Ceræ: an Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies for Issue 9 (2022-3) and am currently a reviewer for a number of journals.

I am a member of: University English; the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society; the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature; the Society of Medieval Feminist Scholarship; the Foundation Year Network; the Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences Network and Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching UK amongst others.