Overview
My work engages trans and disability theories to explore questions of the body in Middle English literature. I am interested in how these theories might inform each other as much as how they inform our understanding of the Middle Ages.
My dissertation asks how we might speculate trans and disabled bodies in late medieval literature. Using pairs, doubles, and mirrored characters in four Middle English romances, I not only argue for the entwined histories of transness and disability but also emphasize the role of interrelation and interdependence in these embodiments. Paying special attention to how bodies contextualize and lend meaning to other bodies, I offer readings of Floris and Blancheflour, Eger and Grime, Troilus and Criseyde, and Amis and Amiloun, amongst a host of other medieval objects across genres.
In my free time, I like to read sad novels and spend time with my very chatty cat.
Research Focus
- Trans Theory
- Disability Studies
- Middle English Literature
- Romance
Courses Taught
• MEDVL 1101: FWS: Aspects of Medieval Culture: Medieval Crossdressings
• MEDVL 1101: FWS: Aspects of Medieval Culture: Life and Dying
Publications
“Reason and the Egg: A Trans Feminine Roman de Silence.” Exemplaria 38, no. 2 (2026): 135-49.
With Sarah LaVoy-Brunette. “Settler Fantasies and Queer Disruptions: A Nonbinary Reading of Gerald’s Wolves,” invited contribution to “Medieval Trans Natures,” ed. Aylin Malcolm and Nat Rivkin. Special Issue, Medieval Ecocriticisms 4 (2024): 17-38.