My research often focuses on gender, the body, and sexuality in early medieval literature, particularly that of northwestern Europe, but I am also interested in Modernism, World War I poetry, medievalisms, the body in literature, and women's history and writing more generally.
Dissertation: Movement, Stillness, and Meaning in Old English Saints' Lives
My dissertation focuses on physical movement in Old English saints' lives. Scholarship on bodily movement in literature does exist in some areas of medieval studies, but by no means all. While there has been some attention to this topic in later medieval studies, there has been comparatively little of it in early medieval studies, including the study of Old English texts. In my dissertation, I examine the kinesic descriptions of characters in Old English verse and prose saints’ lives—that is, the bodily movement, postures, and physiological reactions of characters in these texts. I argue that there is a significant interplay of bodily movement and stillness throughout these texts, and that ultimately, control over the body—through control over movement—is presented as a marker of sanctity in saints’ lives.
Publications
“Pedagogy in the Digital Age.” In Practical Approaches to Teaching Beowulf, edited by Larry Swain and Aaron Hostetter. Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, 2020.
Teaching Beowulf, in any classroom context, poses some interesting difficulties--from the condition of the manuscript and the unknown authorship and date of composition to the highly referential, dense nature of the text and the multitude of characters, peoples, and epithets used to describe them. On top of these difficulties, many students simply approach Beowulf with trepidation, apathy, and disdain, or expect to be completely bored by the poem. Some students may find that they become captivated by the text, fascinated by the warrior culture the poem depicts, with its feuds, bands of warriors, and ideas about fame and fate, or the early medieval Germanic context of the poem, full of swords and armor, mead halls and treasure troves, oral poetry and stories about battles. And let’s not forget the series of increasingly difficult, violent, and action-packed monster fights! But some students will need additional help and encouragement to connect to, understand, and appreciate the poem, and digital resources and tools can often provide that for today’s students. In fact, incorporating digital strategies into lessons on Beowulf can help all students understand and enjoy the poem more, whether the poem naturally appeals to them or not. This chapter represents an effort to aid educators at various levels in incorporating these and other digital sources into their teaching of Beowulf, so that they and their students might enjoy the opportunities these resources can provide.
"The Dancing Girls in The Life of Saints Chrysanthus and Daria. In Anglo-Saxon Women: A Florilegium, edited by Emily Butler, Irina Dumitrescu, and Hilary E. Fox (forthcoming).
The “dancing girls” of Ælfric’s Passio Chrisanti et Darie sponse eius within his Lives of Saints have a minimal role: they attempt to seduce Chrysanthus from Christ with their wodlican plegan, “foolish sport,” but they fail to do so. This episode has usually been read as a typical temptation scene, and analyses of this Life usually focus on Chrysanthus and Daria’s marriage as a model of chaste marriage for lay couples, with an emphasis on virginity as the fundamental feature of Old English saints’ faith and sanctity. When the maidens are centered in a reading of this Life, however, what becomes evident is their movement--wodlican plegan—in contrast to the stillness of, and the weaponization of stillness by, Chrysanthus and Daria. Reading the Life with attention to the interplay of movement and stillness ultimately offers an additional saintly characteristic to be admired and emulated by the lay audience of the Lives: physical control and restraint, not only through rejection of sexual activity, but also through mastery of bodily movement.
"'Glorious and Execrable': The Dead and Their Bodies in World War I Poetry." The Hilltop Review 9, no. 2 (2017): 14-31. (pdf)
While many scholars of World War I poetry have identified aspects of soldier poets’ work that embody the change from enthusiastic support of the war to disillusioned criticism of it, in this paper I argue for an additional, and highly meaningful marker of this significant change: the use of the dead and their bodies in this poetry. The commonly held critical view of World War I poetry is that there is a clear divide between poetry of the early and late years of the war, usually located after the Battle of the Somme in 1916, where poetry moves from odes to courageous sacrifice and protection of the homeland to bitter or grief-stricken verses on the horror and pointless suffering of the war. This change is particularly noticeable in the poetry of “soldier poets." Through analysis of poems by a variety of World War I poets, including Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg, and others, I track this shift and examine how it is mapped onto the bodies of soldiers in their poetry. I argue that poetry of the early years of the war depicts bodies as stable, insulated objects on which poets can project messages of admiration for the sacrifice and nobility of soldiers, support for the war, or concepts of nationalism and empire; in contrast, in the later poetry of the war, bodies are unstable, exposed, and corrupted, no longer able to support old messages of courage and noble sacrifice but reflecting the futility, senselessness, and destruction of the war.
"Children of the Waste Land." Polyglossia 12, no. 1 (2009): 5-13. (pdf)
T.S. Eliot offers a modern interpretation of an ancient legend in his epic poem entitled The Waste Land, largely influenced by contemporary anthropological studies From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston and The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer. The story of the Wasteland and the Fisher King has its foundations in ancient vegetation rituals and echoes through time to find a place in both medieval romances and modern day narratives. Who is the modern Fisher King according to Eliot, and what are the implications of that answer for today's Waste Land?
Teaching Beowulf, in any classroom context, poses some interesting difficulties--from the condition of the manuscript and the unknown authorship and date of composition to the highly referential, dense nature of the text and the multitude of characters, peoples, and epithets used to describe them. On top of these difficulties, many students simply approach Beowulf with trepidation, apathy, and disdain, or expect to be completely bored by the poem. Some students may find that they become captivated by the text, fascinated by the warrior culture the poem depicts, with its feuds, bands of warriors, and ideas about fame and fate, or the early medieval Germanic context of the poem, full of swords and armor, mead halls and treasure troves, oral poetry and stories about battles. And let’s not forget the series of increasingly difficult, violent, and action-packed monster fights! But some students will need additional help and encouragement to connect to, understand, and appreciate the poem, and digital resources and tools can often provide that for today’s students. In fact, incorporating digital strategies into lessons on Beowulf can help all students understand and enjoy the poem more, whether the poem naturally appeals to them or not. This chapter represents an effort to aid educators at various levels in incorporating these and other digital sources into their teaching of Beowulf, so that they and their students might enjoy the opportunities these resources can provide.
"The Dancing Girls in The Life of Saints Chrysanthus and Daria. In Anglo-Saxon Women: A Florilegium, edited by Emily Butler, Irina Dumitrescu, and Hilary E. Fox (forthcoming).
The “dancing girls” of Ælfric’s Passio Chrisanti et Darie sponse eius within his Lives of Saints have a minimal role: they attempt to seduce Chrysanthus from Christ with their wodlican plegan, “foolish sport,” but they fail to do so. This episode has usually been read as a typical temptation scene, and analyses of this Life usually focus on Chrysanthus and Daria’s marriage as a model of chaste marriage for lay couples, with an emphasis on virginity as the fundamental feature of Old English saints’ faith and sanctity. When the maidens are centered in a reading of this Life, however, what becomes evident is their movement--wodlican plegan—in contrast to the stillness of, and the weaponization of stillness by, Chrysanthus and Daria. Reading the Life with attention to the interplay of movement and stillness ultimately offers an additional saintly characteristic to be admired and emulated by the lay audience of the Lives: physical control and restraint, not only through rejection of sexual activity, but also through mastery of bodily movement.
"'Glorious and Execrable': The Dead and Their Bodies in World War I Poetry." The Hilltop Review 9, no. 2 (2017): 14-31. (pdf)
While many scholars of World War I poetry have identified aspects of soldier poets’ work that embody the change from enthusiastic support of the war to disillusioned criticism of it, in this paper I argue for an additional, and highly meaningful marker of this significant change: the use of the dead and their bodies in this poetry. The commonly held critical view of World War I poetry is that there is a clear divide between poetry of the early and late years of the war, usually located after the Battle of the Somme in 1916, where poetry moves from odes to courageous sacrifice and protection of the homeland to bitter or grief-stricken verses on the horror and pointless suffering of the war. This change is particularly noticeable in the poetry of “soldier poets." Through analysis of poems by a variety of World War I poets, including Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg, and others, I track this shift and examine how it is mapped onto the bodies of soldiers in their poetry. I argue that poetry of the early years of the war depicts bodies as stable, insulated objects on which poets can project messages of admiration for the sacrifice and nobility of soldiers, support for the war, or concepts of nationalism and empire; in contrast, in the later poetry of the war, bodies are unstable, exposed, and corrupted, no longer able to support old messages of courage and noble sacrifice but reflecting the futility, senselessness, and destruction of the war.
"Children of the Waste Land." Polyglossia 12, no. 1 (2009): 5-13. (pdf)
T.S. Eliot offers a modern interpretation of an ancient legend in his epic poem entitled The Waste Land, largely influenced by contemporary anthropological studies From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston and The Golden Bough by Sir James Frazer. The story of the Wasteland and the Fisher King has its foundations in ancient vegetation rituals and echoes through time to find a place in both medieval romances and modern day narratives. Who is the modern Fisher King according to Eliot, and what are the implications of that answer for today's Waste Land?
Conference Activity
Panels Organized
2020
Papers Presented
2020
Campus or Departmental Talks
2016
Creative Work and Performance
2018
2020
- Organizer, "Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Global Middle Ages," 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2020.
- Co-organizer, “A Feminist Renaissance in Early Medieval English Studies I: Women’s Networks in the Early Medieval North Atlantic,” 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2020. Special Session sponsored by A Feminist Renaissance in Early Medieval English Studies.
- Co-organizer, “A Feminist Renaissance in Early Medieval English Studies II: Feminist Critical Methodologies for the Early Middle Ages,” 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2020. Special Session sponsored by A Feminist Renaissance in Early Medieval English Studies.
- Co-organizer, “A Feminist Renaissance in Anglo-Saxon Studies I and II: White Nationalism, Misogyny, and the Modern Reception of the Early Medieval North Atlantic,” 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2019. Special Sessions sponsored by A Feminist Renaissance in Early Medieval English Studies.
- Co-organizer, “A Feminist Renaissance in Anglo-Saxon Studies I: Interdisciplinary/Extramural,” 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2018. Special Session sponsored by A Feminist Renaissance in Early Medieval English Studies.
- Co-organizer, “A Feminist Renaissance in Anglo-Saxon Studies II: Projects in Progress,” 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2018. Special Session sponsored by A Feminist Renaissance in Early Medieval English Studies.
- “Movement and Meaning in Early Medieval Literature,” 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 2017.
- “Movement in Medieval Literature,” 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 2015.
Papers Presented
2020
- "Movement, Stillness, and Transformation in Andreas and Guthlac," 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2020.
- “‘A Feather on the Breath of God’: Medieval and Modern Movement,” 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2019.
- “Movement and Communication in Anglo-Saxon Literature,” 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 2018.
- “Juliana and Judith: Movement, Stillness, and Two Models of Female Sanctity,” 35th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Medieval Association, Chicago, IL, February 2018.
- “Gendered Movement in Anglo-Saxon Literature,” 22nd Leeds International Medieval Congress, July 2017.
- “Movement in Anglo-Saxon Hagiography,” 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 2017.
- “Public Peace and Personal Purity: Gender, Communities, and Relationships in Law and Literature of Anglo-Saxon England,” 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2016.
- “‘Far From Drunk With Ale’: Women, Sobriety, and Power in Old Norse Literature,” 21st International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK, July 2015.
- “‘Nor Hell a Fury’: Female Vengeance in the Nibelungenlied and Völsungasaga,” 2nd Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, St. Louis, MO, June 2014.
- “‘O Mighty Mud-Dweller’: Non-Sexual Insults in the Saga of Bjorn, Champion of the Hitardal People,” 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 2014.
- “Celestial or Human Childbirth?: Medical and Scientific Terminology in Anglo-Saxon Marian Texts,” 26th Annual Indiana University Medieval Studies Symposium, Bloomington, IN, March 2014.
- “Mary’s Womb as Dwelling: The Virginal, Fertile, and Maternal Body of Mary in Anglo-Saxon Literature,” Medieval Association of the Midwest 29th Annual Conference, Terre Haute, IN, September 2013.
- “Women’s Blood: Ritual Purity in Anglo-Saxon Religious Texts,” 1st Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, St. Louis, MO, June 2013.
- “Female Reproductive Bodies in Anglo-Saxon Religious Literature,” Norwich-York-King’s College London Graduate Student Conference, London, June 2011.
Campus or Departmental Talks
2016
- "Teaching Research Writing," WMU New 1050 Instructor Training, Western Michigan University, August 2016.
- "Applying to PhD Programs," 2016 AGES Graduate Student Professional Development Seminar, April 2016.
- "Teaching the Unfamiliar Genre Project in ENGL 1050: Thought and Writing," WMU New 1050 Instructor Training, Western Michigan University, August 2015.
- "Submission and Resubmission: Navigating the Academic Journal Publishing Process," 2015 National Association of Graduate Professional Students Midwest Regional Conference, Western Michigan University, March 2015.
Creative Work and Performance
2018
- “Visitatio,” choreographer and performer, Kalamazoo, MI, April 2018.
- “Cosmic Dance," choreographer and performer, Mostly Medieval Theatre Festival, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2017.
- “Offerings,” choreographer, Freespace Dance Festival, Elgin, IL, August 2013.
