PhD dissertations - 2012-2013 Academic Year

AUGUST 2012

Bechtold, Rebecca
COMPOSING THE BODY: NARRATIVE IN THE AGE OF IMPROVISATION, 1770-1867
Chair: Trish Loughran; and Justine Murison, Leon Chai, Gillen Wood

Claborn, John
ECOLOGY OF THE COLOR LINE: RACE AND NATURE IN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1895-1941
Co-Chairs: Bill Maxwell, Michael Rothberg; and Stephanie Foote, Spencer Schaffner

Lee, Merton
ASIAN AMERICAN POETRY, AMERICAN POETRY, AND THE CRITIQUE OF IDENTITY: ASIAN AMERICAN POETRY IN COMPARATIVE CONTEXT, 1887-2005
Chair: Cary Nelson; and Leon Chai, Lisa Cacho, Matthew Hart

Unger, Mary
MODERNISM AND THE AMERICAN SYSTEM: STANDARDIZATION, UGLINESS, LITERATURE, 1900-1930
Chair: Dale Bauer; and Robert Parker, Gordon Hutner, Bill Maxwell

Van Renen, Denys
FROM BORDERS TO TOPOGRAPHIES: IDENTITIES AND EXPANSION IN BRITISH LITERATURE, 1620-1750
Chair: Robert Markley; and Lori Newcomb, Anthony Pollock, Feisal Mohamed, Andrea Stevens

 

DECEMBER 2012

Holding, Cory
RHETORICAL GESTURES IN BRITISH ELOCUTIONISM
Chair: Debra Hawhee; and Martin Camargo, Gail Hawisher, Richard Powers, Paul Prior, Ted Underwood

Snow, Spencer
READING THE MAP: GEOGRAPHIC SPACE, READING PUBLICS, AND THE SHAPING OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN IDENTITY, 1803-1898
Chair: Trish Loughran; and Stephanie Foote, Leon Chai, Nancy Castro

MAY 2013

Behrens, Michael
WOMEN WRITERS, RELIGIOUS RHETORIC, AND THE ORIGINS OF SENSIBILITY IN ENGLAND, 1660-1754
Chair: Robert Markley; Anthony Pollock, Feisal Mohamed, Catharine Gray

Burns, Michael Sterling
THE RHETORICS OF COMMUNITY SPACE: CRITICAL EVENTS IN CHAMPAIGN-
URBANA'S BLACK FREEDOM MOVEMENT
Chair: Catherine Prendergast; Peter Mortensen, Rebecca Ginsburg, Clarence Lang

Tuszynska, Agnieszka
STRANGERS FROM WITHIN, STRANGERS FROM WITHOUT: NEGOTIATIONS
AND USES OF SPACE IN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND IMMIGRANT LITERATURES
AND CULTURES, 1900s-1950s
Chair: Cary Nelson; Robert Parker, Stephanie Foote, James Barrett

Vorhies, Heather Blain
A PHYSIOLOGICAL DEFINITION OF STYLE: SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND WOMEN’S
WRITINGS IN THE EARLY AMERICAN REPUBLIC
Chair: Peter Mortensen; Ned O’Gorman, Robert Markley, Ted Underwood

Zink, Amanda
FICTIONS OF AMERICAN DOMESTICITY: INDIGENOUS WOMEN, WHITE
WOMEN, AND THE NATION, 1850-1950
Chair: Robert Parker; Jodi Byrd, Stephanie Foote, Richard Rodriguez