Research Interests
My archival and librarian interests center on accessibility, ranging from outreach to increase awareness about archives, encouraging student and faculty use of special collections in university settings, and improving information literacy so that users are better equipped to use both the library and its special collections.
My current research relates to my creative writing project, WINTERS. In particular, I am researching the society and culture of Ottoman Egypt, particularly during the eighteenth century, and the history of science in the early modern period, both in Europe and in the Middle East.
My medieval research interests remain attached to considerations of the supernatural by examining the medievalism of fantasy table-top role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons.
My current research relates to my creative writing project, WINTERS. In particular, I am researching the society and culture of Ottoman Egypt, particularly during the eighteenth century, and the history of science in the early modern period, both in Europe and in the Middle East.
My medieval research interests remain attached to considerations of the supernatural by examining the medievalism of fantasy table-top role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons.
Previous Research
Doctoral dissertation
This dissertation, ‘Fairy in Middle English romance’, aims to contribute to the recent resurgence of interest in the literary medieval supernatural by studying the concept of ‘fairy’ as it is presented in fourteenth and fifteenth century Middle English romances. This thesis is particularly interested in how the use of ‘fairy’ in Middle English romances serves as an arena in which to play out ‘thought-experiments’ that test anxieties about faith, gender, power, and death.
My first chapter considers the concept of fairy in its medieval Christian context by using the romance Melusine as a case study to examine fairies alongside medieval theological explorations of the nature of demons. I then examine the power dynamic of fairy/human relationships and the extent to which having one partner be a fairy affects these explorations of medieval attitudes toward gender relations and hierarchy. The third chapter examines ‘fairy-like’ women enchantresses in romance and the extent to which fairy is ‘performed’ in romance. In my fourth chapter, I examine the location of Faerie and how it relates as an alternative ‘Otherworld’ to the Christian Otherworlds of Paradise, Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell. My final chapter continues to examine geography by considering the application of Avalon and whether Avalon can be read as a ‘land of fairies’.
By considering the etymological, spiritual, and gendered definitions of ‘fairy’, my research reveals medieval attitudes toward not only the Otherworld, but also the contemporary medieval world. In doing so, I provide new readings of little-studied medieval texts, such as the Middle English Melusine and Eger and Grime, as well as reconsider the presence of religious material and gender dynamics in medieval romance. My thesis demonstrates that by examining how fairy was used in Middle English romance, we can see how medieval authors were describing their present reality.
My first chapter considers the concept of fairy in its medieval Christian context by using the romance Melusine as a case study to examine fairies alongside medieval theological explorations of the nature of demons. I then examine the power dynamic of fairy/human relationships and the extent to which having one partner be a fairy affects these explorations of medieval attitudes toward gender relations and hierarchy. The third chapter examines ‘fairy-like’ women enchantresses in romance and the extent to which fairy is ‘performed’ in romance. In my fourth chapter, I examine the location of Faerie and how it relates as an alternative ‘Otherworld’ to the Christian Otherworlds of Paradise, Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell. My final chapter continues to examine geography by considering the application of Avalon and whether Avalon can be read as a ‘land of fairies’.
By considering the etymological, spiritual, and gendered definitions of ‘fairy’, my research reveals medieval attitudes toward not only the Otherworld, but also the contemporary medieval world. In doing so, I provide new readings of little-studied medieval texts, such as the Middle English Melusine and Eger and Grime, as well as reconsider the presence of religious material and gender dynamics in medieval romance. My thesis demonstrates that by examining how fairy was used in Middle English romance, we can see how medieval authors were describing their present reality.
Click HERE for chapter summaries.
I: Fairies and Demons: The case of Melusine
II: Fairies, Gender, and Power
III: ‘Performing’ Fairy
IV: The Fifth Road to Faerie
V: Fairies in Avalon
Doctoral dissertation is available online through the St Andrews Research Depository.
I: Fairies and Demons: The case of Melusine
II: Fairies, Gender, and Power
III: ‘Performing’ Fairy
IV: The Fifth Road to Faerie
V: Fairies in Avalon
Doctoral dissertation is available online through the St Andrews Research Depository.
Master's Dissertation
In his seminal article on the subject, Nicholas Watson defined vernacular theology as any form of writing, sermon or play that imparts theological wisdom in the vernacular to an audience. His study, however, failed to address the involvement medieval drama has with vernacular theology. This dissertation, ‘Medieval Cycle Drama and the Nature of Sin’, explores the relationship between the plays’ purpose to entertain or to educate, and the engagement the four cycle dramas York, Chester, Towneley and N-Town had with theology, particularly examining the plays’ presentation of the nature of sin, its origins, consequences and final defeat.
Though produced by secular lay guildsmen, the four cycles held a dual nature that was both didactic and entertaining. In dramatising the Bible, and using episodes such as the Fall of Lucifer, the Killing of Abel, the Woman Taken in Adultery and the Last Judgement, these plays serve a didactic purpose in educating other lay people about sin, its consequences and inspiring the audience to make amends while they still lived in the time of mercy. In order to do so, the medieval cycle dramas of Chester, N-Town, Towneley and York had to engage with theological ideas and thus are a valuable source of fifteenth century vernacular theology.
Though produced by secular lay guildsmen, the four cycles held a dual nature that was both didactic and entertaining. In dramatising the Bible, and using episodes such as the Fall of Lucifer, the Killing of Abel, the Woman Taken in Adultery and the Last Judgement, these plays serve a didactic purpose in educating other lay people about sin, its consequences and inspiring the audience to make amends while they still lived in the time of mercy. In order to do so, the medieval cycle dramas of Chester, N-Town, Towneley and York had to engage with theological ideas and thus are a valuable source of fifteenth century vernacular theology.