Current PhD Students
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Fredoss has a BA in English with a Minor in Creative Writing from the University of Balamand, Lebanon. She received her MA in English from 海角社区. Fredoss鈥檚 research interests include postcolonial literature, affect theory, distance and proximity, stories of Arab oppression, and, of course, love. |
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Alyssa holds two BA degrees in Music Studies and English and a MA in English (Thesis: Enchanting Music: How English Playwrights Use Music in Renaissance Witchcraft Plays) from the University of New Orleans. Her research involves circumCaribbean folklore and its modern iterations in 20th and 21st-century literature. |
Alyssa Anders
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Azharuddin holds a BA in English from St. Xaviers' College, with a Minor in History and Economics. He earned a MA and an M.Phil in English from Delhi University. Azharuddin鈥檚 current research project involves studying the representation of terrorist figures in contemporary global anglophone novels, particularly those published after 9/11. He looks at ways in which terrorist emotions are spatialized, how they relate to their bodies and surroundings, and how specific narrative techniques create or disrupt sympathy with the terrorist. Azharuddin鈥檚 research interests include but are not limited to Contemporary global anglophone literature, Post-9/11fiction, Vietnam War Literature and Film, Gothic literature, Literary and Critical Theory, and Film and Media studies. Before joining 海角社区, Azharrudin was an Assistant Professor of English at Delhi University from 2015 to 2021. He is also an alumnus of Harvard University's Institute of World Literature 2024 summer program hosted at the University of Cyprus from July 8-August 1, 2024. |
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Anna holds two BA degrees in English and in Philosophy from Mississippi State University. She earned her MA in English from 海角社区. Anna鈥檚 area of research includes 20th and 21st century American Literature, with interests in Animal Studies, Southern Studies, and Ecocriticism. Her dissertation project builds upon these interests and is titled "Visible Absence, Spectral Presence: Nonhuman Animal Hauntings in Southern Literature."
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Spencer has a BA in English and a Minor in Classical Studies from Iowa State University, where he went on to earn a MA in English. Spencer鈥檚 current research project is titled 鈥淭he Marketability of Malediction: Curse Narratives in British Literature 1798-1914.鈥�
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Wenbo holds both a BA and MA in English Literature from Central South University in Hunan, China. Her research interests focus on emotions and women's writing in the 19th and 20th centuries. |
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Marina has a Modern Literature BA with a Political Science Minor from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She holds a MA in 19th-century British Literature from California State University Sacramento, where she was also able to attend Oxford Brookes University in England as part of their Study Abroad program. After living internationally, Marina earned her TEFL Certificate from the International TEFL Academy and relocated to the Czech Republic to teach high school English. Marina鈥檚 field of interests includes Romantic and Victorian Literature, Long 19th-century studies, Landscape, Visual Material, Travel Writing, Cartography, and Illuminated Manuscripts. Her research deals with maritime and oceanic influences in and on 19th-century British Literature and Art by looking at the ekphrasis of the time to highlight how the oceans and the water were fundamental for 19th-century British identity. She is also interested in looking closer at certain symbols/identifiers of nautical travel, such as the ship, navigational tools, maps, and manifests. Marina enjoys traveling, reading, cooking, embroidery, and dancing around the house when not working. |
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Amanda has a BA in Psychology and English from Baylor University and an MA in English Lit from Winona State University. Her research deals with Narratology and Monster Theory in Indigenous literature. |
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Zahid holds a MA in English Literature from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. His research interests include Anthropocene, Climate Change, Ecological Migration, South Asian Anglophone Novels, and Postcolonialism. Zahid鈥檚 current dissertation topic is 鈥淎nthropocene and the Global South: A Study of Climate Change in Selected South Asian Novels in English.鈥� |
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Kelsey has a BA in English with Minors in Classical Studies and French and Francophone Studies from the University of Florida, where she also earned a Master of Education in English Education. She also holds a MA in English and American Literature from Boston University. Kelsey鈥檚 research interests are in Victorian Studies and Science Fiction. She is interested in exploring the discourses of science and ecology in the Victorian Era, studying how scientific advancements at the time were portrayed in literature, and how this discourse is complicated by various power imbalances. |
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 Caitlin Jones PhD Student cjon437@lsu.edu |
Caitlin holds an AA in General Studies from L.E. Fletcher Technical Community College and a BA in Literature with a Minor in History from Nicholls State University. She earned her MA in English Literature from Auburn University. Caitlin鈥檚 field of interest include: 19th Century Transnational Literature, Adaptation Studies, Ecocriticism, Gothic, Queer Studies, and Cultural Studies. The working title of her current research is 鈥�19th Century Proto-Genres in Fear - How The Gothic Anxieties of Victorians Shaped Our Everyday.鈥� Caitlin hopes to explore the effects of the proto-Gothic and 19th-century gothic literature on modern understandings of genre fiction. She also seeks to explore how the anxious nature of the Victorians impacts our everyday understanding of bias and cultural implication as the tropes and cultural references of the late 19th century embed themselves more deeply into our pop culture shorthand. Caitlin is a fiction writer, traveler, and gardener in her spare time. |
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Amber earned a BA in English and History, with a minor in International Studies from Louisiana Tech University. She has two MA degrees, one from Louisiana Tech University and the other from the University of York. Amber鈥檚 research interests include Victorian literature and culture, nineteenth-century literature, gothic literature, poison, and contamination. Her current research project is titled "The Catharsis of Poison in Victorian Literature.鈥� When I'm not teaching rhetoric and argument or traveling to poison gardens and pharmacy museums for dissertation research, I'm happy to talk about my beloved books, musicals, video games, horror podcasts, tabletop gaming, fiber arts, and anything vampire, corvid, or cryptid-related. |
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 Ash Maldonado
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Matthew has a BA in English from Emmanuel University, Georgia. He earned his MA in English from Georgia State University. Matthew works with 20th and 21st-century American literature with a specialization in queer southern studies and comic studies. His research focuses on the intersections of queer theory, southern literature, and graphic narratives, exploring these fields to understand how identity, region, and visual storytelling converge to shape cultural narratives. His forthcoming essay, "Was I in Dixie or Wasn't I: Queer Negativity and the U.S. South in Howard Cruse's Stuck Rubber Baby," will be featured in the Journal of Comics and Graphic Novels. Currently, Matthew is completing a project tentatively titled 鈥淭he Politics of Southern Fundamentalism in the Comic Strips of Howard Cruse. |
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Avery has a BA in English/Creative Writing and a BA in Film Theory & Production, graduating summa cum laude from Hollins University, Roanoke VA. In addition to earning their Certificate in Leadership Studies from the Batten Leadership Institute at Hollins University, Avery also holds a MA in English from 海角社区. They are currently working on a dissertation investigating structural queerness in American found footage horror movies. Avery is a Gothicist specializing in American Horror/Gothic Media from the 19th- 21st century, with interests in queerness and gender, neurocomplexity, digital/internet horror, the evolution and resurgence of 'Southern Gothic' in social media spaces, vampires across the ages, and Death studies. Avery works full-time with Communication Across the Curriculum (CxC) in Studio 151, Coates Hall. They are also the Student Support Coach for the Colleges of Science, Agriculture, and Coast & Environment and previously served as the Assistant Director for the University Writing Program. Avery is always happy to provide horror movie recommendations when asked! |
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Shima Partovian
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Elizabeth holds an AA from Rockingham Community College and a BA in English, History, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She earned a MA in English and holds a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Elizabeth鈥檚 research interests include Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Southern Studies, Women Writers, Feminist Theory, and Queer Theory. Elizabeth is an active member of the English Graduate Student Association, having served as the Co-President and on the Awards Committee. In her spare time, she enjoys playing with her dog, Charlie, watching football, and putting together puzzles. |
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Taylor has a BA in English from Brigham Young University and a MA in English from 海角社区. Taylor鈥檚 dissertation project, 鈥淪pitorical: A Literary and Cultural Review of How Spit Rhetoric Can Heal the World,鈥� explores the rhetoric of spit linguistically, historically, and culturally from the Middle Ages to modern day. Taylor is currently a full-time lecturer at Northern Arizona University while she completes her dissertation at 海角社区. She also teaches yearly or semi-yearly in China. |
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Jalal completed his MA in English Literature at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) and was awarded "Magna Cum Laude" for his outstanding academic performance. Before attending ULAB, Jalal earned his MA in Philosophy from Bangladesh Open University. He also holds a bachelor's and Master鈥檚 degree in International Relations from the University of Dhaka. Additionally, he studied at the University of Erfurt in Germany and completed a course on Rabindranath Tagore and the Aesthetics of Political Engagement at the University of California, UC Berkeley (online). While attending 海角社区, Jalal aspires to explore how disability poetry, poetic philosophy, and places are interrelated. His research interests are 20th and 21st-century American literature, body poetics, poetic cartographies, literary disability studies, literature and philosophy, and aging and literature, etc. Jalal has received academic exposure in Germany, England, Turkey, Singapore, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam. He also taught at the Executive Development Centre, East West University. |
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Denis has a B.Ed. in English with a Minor in Linguistics from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He received his MA in English with an emphasis in Literary & Cultural Studies from 海角社区. Denis is a Fulbright Scholar and studied African, African American, and African Diaspora at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. His dissertation, "Environments of Resistance: The Forest as Site for Post/Colonial Existential Quest," charts a new direction for postcolonial ecocriticism by illuminating how Kenyan literature reimagines the forest landscape as a significant site for resistance. By examining the African forest鈥檚 literal, historical, and cultural vitality with regard to indigenous people鈥檚 resistance to settlerdom and colonial violence, Environments of Resistance reinstates the significance of environmentalism in contemporary Mau-Mau discourses. Denis looks specifically at novels by Meja Mwangi, Samuel Kahiga, Charles Mangua, and Ngugi wa Thiong鈥檕, unsettling the anthropocentric focus of Kenya鈥檚 anticolonial resistance in recent scholarship while showing the transformative possibilities of a forest-focused postcolonial ecocritical theory centered on cultural, historical, and geographical representations. Taking into account African cosmologies about nature鈥攖raditional spiritualities, rituals, and mythologies鈥� Environments of Resistance approaches the physical space of the forest as an existential realm in which ontological and epistemological questions about human existence can be explored in conjunction with a rethinking of Kenya鈥檚 anticolonial struggle. It thus re-enlivens a critically powerful Mau-Mau environmental ethos with tremendous potential for anticolonial and decolonial readings of African literature. Denis鈥檚 dissertation was nominated by the English Department for the 2024 海角社区 Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, and it was a finalist for the Institute for Citizens & Scholars Charlotte Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship. Denis is expected to finish his PhD at 海角社区 in 2025. |
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Grace holds a BA in English from 海角社区. Her research interests include, but are not limited to, Rhetoric, Shakespearean literature, and 19th-century literature. |
