Program in Literature
A Message from the Program Officers
Dear graduates of the Global Cultural Studies Major and the Program in Literature:
Our heartiest congratulations on the successful completion of your studies during the COVID-19 global crisis. Watching each of you grow in intellect, imagination, and critical sophistication has been our absolute pride and joy, and we are confident that what you have achieved here is only the beginning of a lifelong process of learning, one that will take you to exciting, if as-yet unknown, destinations. Wherever you are, remember that you have each contributed to the distinction of our major and doctoral program, and that you will always be a precious part of our community, your home. Go forth with curiosity, courage, and fortitude, and live well in good health!
With the warmest blessings on behalf of all Literature faculty, staff, and students,
Rey Chow (Program Director)
Antonio Viego (Director of Undergraduate Studies)
Markos Hadjioannou (Director of Undergraduate Studies, Spring 2020)
Mark Hansen (Director of Graduate Studies)
PDF of Program Officers' Message
The Program in Literature Ph.D.
December 2019 Graduates
Jacob Soule
The City Novel after the City: Planetary Metropolis, World Literature
May 2020 Graduates
Annu Dahiya
The Conditions of Emergence: Towards a Feminist Philosophy of the Origins of Life
Michael Thomas Gaffney
Our Ice Age: The Geohistorical Imagination in the Northern Hemisphere
Shannan Lee Hayes
An Aesthetic Disposition: Art, Social Reproduction, and Feminist Critique
Renee Ragin
Dwelling in the Barzakh: Mad Archives of the Lebanese Civil War
Cole Alexander Rizki
State Violence and Transgender Cultural Politics in Post-Dictatorship Argentina
William J. Griffith University Service Award: Outstanding Contribution to the Duke Community
Yair Rubinstein
The Logistical Mode of Production: Logistics as a Total Way of Life
The Global Cultural Studies Major in the Program in Literature
December 2019 Graduates
Dai Li
First Major
Zhengtao Qu
First Major
May 2020 Graduates
William Evan Atkinson
First Major
Beyond Memory: Image, Origin, and the Other in Postwar Autobiography
Highest Distinction
Thesis Advisor: Professor Robyn Wiegman
Nominee: Bascom Headen Palmer Literary Prize
Ethan David Czerniecki
First Major
“Speculative” Histories: Slavery, Mortgages, and Financial Capitalism
Highest Distinction
Thesis Advisor: Professor Robyn Wiegman
Isabel Winifred Hutchins
First Major
Sharon Renee Kinsella
First Major
Anqi Pu
First Major
Nicholas Simmons
First Major
Madeline Olivia Swotes
Second Major
Caroline Gioiosa Waring
First Major
Sapphic Mapping: Counter-Discourse in Three ‘Lesbian’ Novels
Highest Distinction
Thesis Advisor: Professor Catherine Reilly
Winner: 2020 Bascom Headen Palmer Literary Prize, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Annie Chen Yang
Minor
What Does It Mean to Mark the Moment?
In response to a call for videos answering the question, "What does it mean to mark the moment," Global Cultural Studies Major Zhengtao Qu (Trinity December 2019) submitted this short film.