Mimi began her PhD ‘The Fantastic Imagination from the Front Lines to the Home Front, 1914-1945’ in October 2024 at the University of Glasgow in partnership with the Imperial War Museums.
This project aims to uncover how the fantastic – from folklore to fairy tales to high fantasy – has been used to express the experiences of soldiers and civilians during the First and Second World Wars.
Using items from IWM’s print, art and material collections, Mimi hopes to highlight the huge variety of creative forms that can broaden understandings of conflict and engage new audiences in the history of war.
Her primary focus is literature produced during war, including poetry and novels written by members of the armed forces as well as books marketed towards children. In addition, she will draw from the wider IWM collections to consider how elements of folklore and fantasy were incorporated into propaganda, satire and material culture.