Research Symposium

BIO

My research interest are in pop culture, literature, and film with more specific interest in speculative fiction, the gothic, American fiction, Queerness, and the intersection of these subjects.

(Un)Homely Haunts: Gothic Spaces in Literature​

Abstract

Research was conducted in two parts. First was working with Dr. Rebecca Ballard to closely read and edit the manuscript of her work about how contemporary speculative fiction has correlated to post 1960 acts and communities of activism. The second part of the research focuses on Gothic Geomemory— the notion that spaces carry memory and are set up to be haunted in different ways in gothic fiction. Specifically, the question for the section of independent research is "In what way(s) does the haunting of non-private spaces differ from the haunting of the home in gothic stories highlighting different demographics?” The independent side of research included reading foundational works from Dr. Ballard's chapter followed by reading primary source materials of the researcher’s own choosing. Texts were chosen for their relevance to the manuscript chapter and their canonical importance to the "haunted house" narrative. The texts were read to look for plot, character, and textual details including what spaces were haunted, what these haunted spaces represented for the characters, how private were the hauntings and the spaces haunted, what demographics were being represented, and how the demographics of the characters related to the spaces being haunted. The findings for the research are still preliminary and highlight how African American authors convey haunted spaces in relation two histories of violent infrastructure. Future action will be taken to broaden the scope of the primary texts to include works that diverge from the typical "haunted house" trope and include other haunted spaces and more demographics.

Keywords: gothic, literature, comparative analysis