Lee Skallerup Bessette, Instructional Technology Specialist in the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies and Adjunct Instructor in the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, had her book A Journey in Translation: Anne Hébert’s Poetry in English published by the University of Ottawa Press at the end of August. Details are available at https://press.uottawa.ca/a-journey-into-translation-3368.html.
Haffey Publishes Essay on Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield
Kate Haffey, Assistant Professor of English, recently published “‘People must marry’: Queer Temporality in Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield.” The essay appeared in Woolf and Her Female Contemporaries: Selected Papers from the 25th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, edited by Julie Vandivere and Megan Hicks and issued by Clemson University Press.
Ohl Publishes Book Chapter
Jessy Ohl, assistant professor of communication, has had his essay “Rhetorical Field Methods in the Tradition of Imitatio,” co-authored with Josh Ewalt and Damien Pfister, included in Field + Text: Innovations in Rhetorical Method, edited by Sara L. McKinnon, Robert Asen, Karma R. Chávez, and Robert Glenn Howard and published by Pennsylvania State University Press.
In that chapter, Ohl and his cowriters contend that one way to retain a distinctively critical-rhetorical dimension to field methods is through the tradition of imitatio. Imitatio presumes that certain rhetorical exemplars—historically, public addresses by the privileged—are worthy of study and emulation in order to improve the civic habits of a citizenry. Rhetorical field methods, with its emphasis on studying the live rhetoric of vernacular communities, offers an opportunity to craft texts suitable for imitatio beyond the subjects and contexts historically authorized for emulation. Drawing from their experience with Occupy Lincoln, they argue that crafting rhetorical scenes appropriates one of rhetoric’s oldest and most dexterous traditions—the use of imitatio in rhetorical training and practice—toward more democratic ends.
Rafferty Publishes Essay, Presents at Conference
Colin Rafferty, associate professor of English, recently had his essay “Four Sentences on Failure (#16)” published in the 2016 issue of The Evansville Review. He also moderated and presented a paper on the panel “Joan Didion and Today’s Essayists” on April 2 at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Los Angeles.
Rao Elected President of Faculty Senate of Virginia
P. Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and Director of the Speaking Intensive Program, represented the University of Mary Washington at the Faculty Senate of Virginia’s meeting at Longwood University on April 16. At that session, he was elected President of the FSVA for next year. This group includes representatives from the faculty senates and councils of schools across Virginia, including public, private, four- and two-year institutions.
Mathur Presents at Shakespeare Conference
Maya Mathur, associate professor of English and Associate Chair of the Department of English, Linguistics and Communication, presented the paper “Family Dynamics in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara” at the conference “Shakespeare and Our Times,” which was held at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., on April 14-16. Her paper examined representations of gender in Omkara, an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello.
Dasgupta Presents at Comparative Literature Conference
Shumona Dasgupta, assistant professor of English, presented the paper “Decolonizing Trauma Studies: Writing the Partition of Bengal” at the American Comparative Literature Association’s annual conference held in Boston on March 17-20.
Richards Discusses Harper Lee at Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival
Gary Richards, associate professor of English and chair of the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, led the discussion of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman at the Breakfast Book Club at the 30th Anniversary Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival held March 30 – April 3 in New Orleans. At the embedded Saints and Sinners conference, he also chaired the panel “Queer (R)Evolutions: Where Do We Go Next?” featuring panelists Dorothy Allison, Alexander Chee, Aaron Hamburger and Sassafras Lowrey.
Barrenechea Appointed IAU College Resident Fellow in Aix-en-Provence, France
Antonio Barrenechea, associate professor of English, has been appointed the Institute for American Universities College Resident Fellow, Aix-en-Provence, France, for the academic year 2016-17. His residency will coincide with a sabbatical project on how the South American underground cinema reinvents Hollywood and European “trash” and avant-garde film sources.
Richards Presents at Southern Literature Conference
Gary Richards, associate professor of English and chair of the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, presented the paper “From Hairspray to Hamilton: Productions of Southernness in the Contemporary Broadway Musical” at the Society for the Study of Southern Literature Conference, themed “The South in the North,” that met in Boston on March 10-12.