Scholarship

 

My current research interests revolve around American literary history, canon formation, and transnationalism, exploring the relationship between American literature and various myths of national and cultural origin. My dissertation, Origins and Orthodoxy: Literary Textbooks and American History, examines how anthologies of American literature treat American history. My current scholarly projects include the following:

• Lincoln and Stowe - My recently published article in the Winter 2009 issue of the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association investigates the apocryphal origins of Lincoln's famous greeting of Harriet Beecher Stowe.

• Briton Hammon - The first African American to publish a work of literature in North America wrote an uncharacteristic captivity narrative that included an unusual story about being captured by Indians in Southern Florida in 1748. Who were these Indians and why did they attack Hammon and his shipwrecked crewmates? An article just accepted for publication in the journal Native South explores this question.

• Native American Origin Stories - My dissertation offers a critical examination of how publishing companies treat Native American Origin stories.This piece is currently under review by American Literary History.

• Previous publications include "Utopian Communities" and "The Dial," American History through Literature, 1820-1870 Eds. Janet Gabler-Hover and Robert Sattelmeyer. New York: Scribner's, 2005. "Learner-Centered by Practice-Learning Design," "Partnering in the Learning Marketspace," and "Learning Materials, Tools, Markets, and Standards," in the National Learner Infrastructure Initiative Meeting Notes, 2002.