Research Interests: Race, Social Justice, Black Women, Self-Authorship, Identity Development, Activism, Reading and Literature, Female Community, Spirituality
Select Research Papers
2017
Rutgers University- Camden- Dr. Aaron Hostetter’s Senior Seminar “Consumption”, PAPER TITLE: No, No, No: The Struggle for a Supreme Consciousness in Jordan Peele’s Get Out: Utilizing Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, I explore the struggle for a dominant consciousness in the film through the context of American critical race theory.
2016
Rutgers University- Camden- Dr. Keith Green’s Senior Seminar “Autobiography of The Self”, PAPER TITLE: “The Black Woman’s Burden: Embodying and Escaping the Myth“: In this paper, I hope to explore the ways that black women in Harriet Jacob’s 1861 Incidents in the Life Of A Slave Girl and Beyonce’s 2016 album Lemonade verbalize their pain through the use of masking and myth.
2015
Rutgers University- Camden- Dr. Ellen Ledoux, Gender and Sexuality in Anglo-American Literature; PAPER TITLE- Mythological Circles: Female Community Influence in Zami: This paper explores the various ways that communities of women act as muses, sages and guides in Audre Lorde’s biomythography “Zami.” These women construct Lorde’s beliefs surrounding language, blackness and sexuality.
Rutgers University- Camden- Dr. Chris Fitter, Shakespeare; PAPER TITLE: Women in Shakespeare: Highly Intelligent, Morally Centered and Unappreciated– Many position Shakespeare as a sexist, who disrespects women. In this paper, I argue that Shakespeare’s view of women can be best understood by the way he depicts men in his plays; the women, in contrast to the often evil, often morally corrupt, men are both clever and ethical.
2014
Rutgers University- Camden- Presented at the Buffy to Batgirl Conference; PAPER TITLE: Female Protagonists in Bluebeard: The Constructed Modern Woman and Her Bloody Chamber– Angela Carter is one of my favorite authors, and I am intrigued by her ability to explore and rewrite fairy tales that are visceral and complex. This paper contrasts the female protagonists in Carter’s Bloody Chamber and Charles Perrault’s Bluebeard.
2013
Rutgers University- Camden- Dr. Elizabeth Alvares, History of Christianity; PAPER TITLE: “Spiritual Gifts: The Pentecostal Divide“- In this paper, I discuss the use of glossolalia as a means of dividing the modern Pentecostal Christian church into the “saved” and the “unsaved.” This divide breaks down the community of the church.
