Amber Kempynck is a PhD researcher in English Literature in the Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University.
As part of the DELIAH (Democratic Literacy and Humour) project, she studies the relationship between gender and humour in the 21st-century Anglophone world, with a focus on transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming comedians. She examines how their performances challenge conventional views of stand-up comedy and what strategies the comedians employ to deal with anti-gender backlash, both in wider society and specifically within the stand-up comedy industry. Her work combines performance analysis, humour studies, and gender theory to explore how their stand-up comedy functions as a site of resistance, identity negotiation, cultural critique, and democratic participation.
She studied Literature and Linguistics (English and Dutch, MA), Gender and Diversity (MA), and Teaching in Languages (MSc). Her previous research explored themes of gender in relation to madness, agency and likeability in Shakespeare and contemporary women’s writing.
