Research

My current research examines the intersection between the environmental humanities and disability studies, with an emphasis on science fiction, contemporary media, the blue humanities, and the energy humanities. I approach my research from a critical theoretical and textual analysis lens, especially utilizing the theories of posthumanism and the methodologies of ecocriticism. I am also interested in the rhetorics of space, particularly the literature of Mars.

An interest in the Anthropocene focuses my research, and my work’s guiding questions are: How may we cope with the Anthropocene? What do Anthropocene artefacts tell us about our contemporary situation? How may understanding disability provide an epistemological shift for decentering anthropocentric discourse and increasing inclusivity both within academia and the Anthropocene as a whole?

Research Proposal: Anthropocene Bodies

This research proposal was created for Dr. Cajsa C. Baldini’s course English 501: Approaches to Research for my time in the Master’s in English Studies program at Arizona State University. It outlines my current research project, tentatively titled Anthropocene Bodies: Permeability as Ecology, Permeability as Disability. This project considers how approaching media and literary artefacts of the Anthropocene uncovers new ideas of embodiment and relationality. My research for this project originates from my interest in Stacy Alaimo’s concept of “trans-corporeality,” Rosi Braidotti’s vision of posthumanism and Deleuzian “becoming,” and Melody Jue’s methodology of “milieu-specific analysis.” Modified versions of my essays “Becoming-Ocean: Posthumanism, the Blue Humanities, and Disability” and “‘Oily Bodies’: Petrocultures and Disability” will be included as chapters in this project.