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Department of English
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Department of English

Home > Graduate Studies : Research Groups & Collaborations

Subfields & Collaborations

Collaborations with other University of Minnesota Departments, Institutes, and Centers

Subfields

Research groups (or “subfields”) are informal, extra-curricular associations of professors and/or graduate students devoted to special interests within the Department of English. Research groups typically meet once or twice a month, on or off campus, for discussion of classic texts, recently published works, or faculty and student works in progress. Many students participate in more than one group. If a group is not formed that suits your interests, the graduate office can help you start one! Some currently active research groups include the following:

Image of colloquiumMedieval and Early Modern Research Group

The Medieval & Early Modern Research Group is a student-led interdisciplinary forum for those interested in medieval and early modern Europe and the spread of European colonialism. We entertain a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, and we organize discussions, presentations, and events on topics concerning the scholarship, teaching, and critical theory relevant to work in the medieval and early modern fields. Contact Caitlin McHugh for more information. Although we are an active and independent graduate-student group, students in MEMRG often collaborate with faculty-organized groups. See The Center for Medieval Studies and Early Modern Literature at UMN.

Nineteenth Century British Subfield

This research group of graduate students and faculty members meets monthly to discuss works-in-progress. We are not limited to one school of thought or method of research, and our interests span the long nineteenth century. Recent discussions have centered on diverse topics including female werewolves, masculinity and politeness, and smoking. The papers we discuss may be seminar papers, conference papers in progress, potential articles, dissertation chapters, or even sections of book projects. For more information visit our website (which also contains links to research resources) or email us at nineteen@umn.edu.

Pedagogy Subfield

The Pedagogy Subfield consists of a group of teachers who have established this community as a space to discuss, research, experiment with, and foster a culture of pedagogy. As graduate assistants and as instructors, we share our resources, ideas, and experiences from the classroom. A sampling of our activities includes a radical pedagogy reading group, syllabus workshopping and a growing classroom activity archive, and colloquiums on issues facing educators in our field today. Please see our blog for more information, and feel free to contact us at pdsgumn@gmail.com.

Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Subfield

Our group provides a network for students and faculty interested in matters of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We organize discussions and presentations on topics concerning scholarship, teaching, and critical theory relevant to work in the fields of twenty and twenty-first century literatures and cultures. Contact us at ttonec@umn.edu for more information.