Graduate Students
Current Students
Jacopo Aldrighetti
Jacopo holds a B.A. in Modern Languages, a dual M.A. in Postcolonial Studies from
Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (Austria) and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy),
and has been affiliated with the Université de Paris (France) to conduct research
in the area of environmental humanities. He has lived and worked in several countries
across Europe and South America and is interested in the interactions between humans
and the environment through the lens of indigeneity and comparative cultural studies.
He seeks to employ methods from disciplines such as geography, anthropology, and environmental
science (e.g. cultural and political ecology, ethnography, ethnobiology) to gain a
deeper understanding of the relationship between the indigenous peoples of the Amazon
basin and water, as well as how their culture cores are reflected in their respective
oral literatures. His research revolves around one central question: How can the study
of the interactions between surviving pre-industrial communities and the environment
inform environmentalist trends in contemporary industrial societies? His book of poetry
Areia: per la forma della poesia che verrà is forthcoming. Currently, he is working on a book on geo and eco-poetry.
Marlon Andres Cáceres Delgado
Marlon Andres Cáceres Delgado holds a B.A. in Spanish and English Literature from the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia in Bucaramanga and an M.A. in Spanish from the University of South Florida. His research interests include: Latin-American women writers (fiction and poetry), feminist studies on literature and cultural identity representation (cinema and theater).
As former President and Vice President of the Spanish Graduate Student Association at USF, he created and organized events such as: Latino and Hispanic writers in the US, Pido la palabra/ Mind Your Words (a bilingual poetry reading and discussion). He also organized conference tables about women literature and gender theories. He is the host of the Spotify podcast 1.21 GIGAWHAT!, in which he explores and analyzes recent sci-fi films, literature, and shows. Some of his poetry and fiction feauterd in "El callejón de los libros".
Marie-Gabrielle Delahoussaye
Gabrielle Delahoussaye received a B.A. in Comparative Literature (2022) from the University
of Dallas. She is a first-year P.h.D. student who is interested in the convergence
of spiritual and aesthetic experience. Her undergraduate research project centered
on the metaphysical search implicit in the poetry of John Keats. She is also interested
in the literary and philosophical movements that arose in France in the 20th century,
in the ideas of Camus, Weil, Bernanos, and Mauriac.
Pelumi Folajimi
Pelumi Folajimi earned a BA in Dramatic Arts (2008) and MA in English (2015) from
Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria. In 2017, he earned a second MA in African Languages
and Literature from the Dept of African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Since 2017, he has been a Fellow and Artistic Director in Residence at African Theatre
in America, Chicago. He was a visiting scholar at the Department of Theatre and Dance
of the University of Hawaii-Manoa (Spring 2019), a candidate of English Language Program
at Seton Hall University (Summer 2019), and a Fellow of the National African Language
Resource Center at Indiana University-Bloomington (Summer 2019). His papers have appeared
in Research in African Literatures, African Literature Today, Journal of the African
Literature Association, Ife Journal of the Humanities and Social Studies, and Matatu:
Journal for African Culture and Society. He wishes to pursue a dissertation in ‘‘The
Global Travels of the Western Classic: Postcolonial and Holocaust Transformations
of Sophocles’ Antigone.’’
Salma Helal
Selma Helal was educated in her native country, Tunisia. She earned her BA (with a
concentration in Literature) from the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Faculty of
Human and Social Sciences, University of Tunis, and the Agrégation, in English, from
the Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Humanities, University of Manouba. She participated
in the ENS Summer School in Tunis with Fellow Normalien(ne)s from Paris and Lyon,
and in the ENS Exchange Program in Lyon. She took part in workshops and international
conferences by the London Center for Interdisciplinary Research, where oral history,
(dis)placement, and borders/boundaries have influenced her perception of time and
literature. Her research interests center on the interactions of literature and philosophy.
Meghan Hodges
Meghan Hodge holds a B.A. in English (2019) and M.A. in Hispanic Studies (2022). Meghan
is a second-year PhD student in LSU's Comparative Literature Program, currently in
the final semester of coursework for her major and minor concentrations (Comparative
Literature and Historical Research Methods). Meghan uses her interdisciplinary training
to investigate global perspectives on the declining Spanish Empire, with an atypical
focus on the Philippines, Morocco, and Louisiana, areas with distinct and peculiar
relationships to the Iberian Peninsula. Meghan is the Editor-in-Chief of Comparative
Woman Digital Journal, in which her paper “'By that daughter’s most devoted affection':
Anxious and Avoidant Attachments in Opie’s Adeline Mowbray" can be found. Meghan is
the 2022-2023 Comparative Literature Graduate Association President and a member of
the 6th Annual Graduate Conference: Conflict: Global Perspectives (March 2022). In
2022, Meghan attended the Harvard Institute for World Literature, where she presented
her essay "Reaching the Present: Acceptance and Commitment Therapeutic Techniques
in Patricio Guzmán’s Nostalgia de la luz." In the same year, Meghan organized a special
session at the 94th SAMLA convention: Power, Society, and Adaptation in and of Charles
Dickens. Meghan is currently seeking publication of her first literary translation,
The Golden Thread of Feeling.
Jaime Elizabeth (Liz) Johnston
Liz Johnston is a poet and performer from New Orleans, LA. She completed her B.A.
in Writing and a minor in Social Media at Loyola University New Orleans in Spring
2017 before entering the Comparative Literature Ph.D. Program in Fall 2017. Liz is
the former Chairperson of the Loyola University Community Action Program (LUCAP),
the largest and oldest service and social justice organization at Loyola, a position
which won her the "Organization Officer of the Year" Magis Leadership Award. She previously
worked as the Editor in Chief of the Loyola Branch of the Odyssey Online, a staff
writer in film and digital media for CCPUB.org, and a Copy Editor for The Maroon.
In 2018 she began establishing Comparative Woman (a Comparative Literature/Women and
Gender Studies/ Arts journal at LSU) and became Editor in Chief and started the Open
Mic/Pop-Up Gallery series “Comparative Collective” in early 2019. Liz’s academic interests
include Afro-Spirituality, Creole Culture, Dream Interpretation, and Horror.
Guilliermo (Guy) Londono
Guillermo (Guy) Londono is an engineer, an economist, and a writer. He is a member
of the society of Authors and Composers of Venezuela. Before entering the PhD Comparative
Literature Program at LSU, he developed a passion for literature, cultural studies,
and languages through both his academic research and travels in Venezuela, Colombia,
The Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. He also believes in the advancement
of the human race through a new emphasis on eclectic humanism, without neglecting
the Divine.
Gabrielle Mesen
Gabrielle holds a BA in English Literature from Louisiana State University. This winter, she'll receive an M.Ed. in New and Digital Literacies from The University of Georgia, with particular focus on pedagogical approaches to the intersection of visual media, American culture, and English Literature from Modernity to the present. She is a member of the university’s chapters of The National Society of Leadership & Success and Phi Sigma Pi Honor Fraternity.
Writing under the guidance of UGA’s most influential contemporary digital literacies theorist, Dr. Donna Alvermann, her work on Archival Document Analysis can be found in the 2022 book Media Literacy, Equity, and Justice, edited by Belinha de Abreu. Through further study of film criticism, philosophy, and literary theory, she’s interested in the exploration of French post-structuralist and psychoanalytic thought (in relation to cinematic social realism and The New Extreme), psychological horror across artistic mediums as representations of American society and culture, and higher education methodologies for digitally-literate generations. She is happy to be doing so in her hometown of Baton Rouge.
Nkosilathi Moyo
Nkosilathi Moyo graduated with a BA ‘honours’ in English and Communication from Midlands
State University (Zimbabwe) in 2015. He went on to pursue a master’s degree in Britain
at Coventry University where he graduated with a Master of Arts in Communication,
Culture and Media in 2018. In the past (just after high school and briefly after his
master’s degree) he taught Literature in English as a Temporary Teacher. Presently,
he is studying for a PhD in Comparative Literature at LSU with research interests
in decolonial theories, Global Hip Hop and African Diaspora Cultures.
Vrixton Phillips
Vrixton Phillips holds a BA in English from Nicholls State University, in Thibodaux,
Louisiana, with a double specialization in Literature and Rhetoric/Writing, where
he was awarded the 2021 COLA Award for Outstanding Graduate in Rhetoric and Writing.
In his senior year, the Nicholls’ Regional Undergraduate Journal, Chênière, published
his article “A Clear and Present Danger: Robespierre’s ‘On the Trial of the King’”
and after graduating, he went on to work with one of his former professors as a qualitative
data coder for the Nicholls/BOEM Gulf Database Project. His research interests are
in tragic poetry and drama throughout history, particularly that of Ancient Greece,
Renaissance England, and Neoclassical France. He is also fascinated by contemporary
and 20th century continental philosophy and their possible applications to ancient
literature and the history of literature.
Leslie Quezada
Leslie Quezada is a native of Louisiana and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She
received her B.S. in Kinesiology in 2014, B.A. in Spanish in 2016, and M.A. in Hispanic
Studies in 2019 all at Louisiana State University. She is currently in her first year
as a Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature and a graduate teaching assistant in
Spanish at LSU. She is also a dance instructor and choreographer. She works English
and Spanish languages and literatures. Her research interest examines women in 19th
century including: Mexican American, Mexican, and Spanish literature, social constructs
of women, identity of self, and representation of women by others. Other topics of
interest include travel literature, heritage speakers/bilingualism in America, second-language
learning, and the effects of immigration across all areas.
Alexander Schmid
Alexander Schmid studied philosophy at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for his B.A. He then earned an M.A.L.A. from St. John's College in Annapolis' Graduate Institute. He then earned a California Teaching Credential while developing a "Great Books" style curriculum and teaching it in northern San Diego for seven years. Alexander's primary research interests are Medieval Italian Poetry, Ancient Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Dante’s Poetics and Metaphysics, Interreligious Dialogue, Comparative Literature, the History of the Transmission of Philosophy, Medieval Jewish and Arabic Aristotelianism, Ancient and Medieval Epic Poetry. He currently works with the English, Ancient Greek, Latin, Classical Arabic, Spanish, German, French, and Italian Languages.
Midhat Shah
Midhat Shah holds a BA and an MA in English literature and a minor in Persian Language
and Literature from the University of Kashmir, India. She earned her second Masters
in Linguistics with a minor in Language documentation from the University of North
Texas. She has a broad range of research interests, underscoring an interdisciplinary
approach to literature and linguistics. Her research focal points encompass Comparative
Romanticism, Mysticism, Postcolonial literature, History of Criticism, Poetry and
Poetics, Aesthetics in South Asia and the Middle East, and Translation. Currently
she is working on her first literary translation of Rasul Mir’s poetry, a prominent
Romantic poet of Kashmir.
Stacy Stingle
Stacy Stingle holds a BA in English, History, Philosophy, and Psychology, with a minor
in Creative Writing - University Wisconsin-Oshkosh, an MA in English with a concentration
in Literature and Cultural Theory from the University Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a MA
in Philosophy, with a minor in Political Science from Louisiana State University.
She works in English, Spanish, and French languages and literatures. Stacy's current
research is focused on continental philosophy and literary modernism, looking at representations
of time, trauma, memory, and fractured consciousness. She examines modern society
under surveillance and the way that artists and writers have used their works to examine,
resist, and defy oppressive regimes and their power structures.
Yuxin Tian
Yuxin holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Dalian University of Foreign
Languages in China, and an M.A. in World Cultures and Literatures from the University
of Houston. Her research centers around the interconnectedness between disciplines
such as cinematography, psychology, and philosophy, all within the realm of cinema.
Specifically, she delves into Hitchcock's films, aiming to bridge the gap in research
between Chinese scholars and their foreign counterparts. Yuxin's approach involves
translating and introducing contemporary studies in this field to China, aiming to
enhance the understanding and appreciation of Hitchcock's films in her home country.
Additionally, she maintains a strong interest in the theory and practice of translation,
both between Chinese and English languages.
Bertha Vazquez
Betty Vasquez is a US Army Veteran who is beginning her first year at LSU working towards her PhD. in Comparative Literature. Among her academic achievements she counts: a BFA from Cameron University in English Literature with a minor in French, an MFA from the University of Houston Clear Lake in English Literature with a thesis in creative writing. Currently she is studying Spanish Linguistics at the University of Houston.Throughout her academic career she has focused on linguistics, short stories, poetry, film studies, and pedagogy.
Mulin Wang
Mulin Wang holds a BA in English from Hebei Normal University and a MA in Linguistics
and English Teaching from Beijing Normal University. She works in Chinese, English,
and French languages and literatures. Mulin researches translation practice and theory.
Recent Graduates
Thana Al-Shakhs
"Multiple Voices in the Poetry of Transculturation: Reading Contemporary Ex-Phonic Poetry through Muwaššah: Ryoko Sekiguchi, Etel Adnan, and Suheir Hammad" (2019).
Committee Chair: Dr. Solimar Otero.
Hussam Amujalli
"The Function of Poetry in the Maqamat al-Hariri" (2020).
Committee Chair: Dr. Greg Stone.
Negar Basiri
"Cosmopolitanism as Anonymous Vulnerability, a Re-examination of Contemporary Persian, French, American Novels" (2023).
Committee Chair: Francois Raffoul.
Lázara Bolton
"(Re)Writing History in Maryse Condé, Femi Euba, and Reinaldo Arenas" (2016).
Committee Chair: Dr. Solimar Otero.
Anna Ciamparella
"Development of a Literary Dispositif: Convening Diasporan, Blues, and Cosmopolitan Lines of Inquiry to Reveal the Cultural Dialogue Among Giuseppe Ungaretti, Langston Hughes, and Antonio D’Alfonso" (2018).
Committee Chair: Dr. William Boelhower.
Amy Lynne Catania
"Flirt, Fight, or Flight: Spatial and Power Dynamics in Three Courtship Motifs in Modern European, American, and Latin American Literary Works and Musicals" (2017).
Committee Chair: Dr. Dorota Heneghan.
Agnès Dengreville
"Le Grotesque: Balbutiements et Modernités. De La Création D'Une Catégorie Esthétique a Son Renouvellement dans le théâtre du Vingtième Siècle " (2019).
Committee Chair: Dr. Adelaide Russo.
Aparajita Dutta
Aparajita’s dissertation title: “Decolonial Queer Poetic” (2023).
Committee Chair: Deborah Goldgaber.
Emma Gist
"Responsible Classrooms: Unfinalizability, Responsibility, and Participatory Literacy in Secondary English Language Arts" (2022).
Committee Chair: Dr. Susan Weinstein.
Kristina Gibby
"Ghost (Hi)stories: Fiction as Alternative History in Brodber, Valdés, Cisneros, and Condé" (2017).
Committee Chair: Dr. Andrea Morris.
Benjamin Howland
"The Exemplary Spartacus: Reception, Adaptation, and Reconstruction" (2020).
Committee Chair: Dr. Greg Stone.
Pengyi Huang
"Immigration, Ethnicity, and Citizenship: The Words and Faces of the Chinese of North America" (2017).
Committee Chair: Dr. William Boelhower.
Jingyuan Liu
"Poetics of Integration and the Making of Modern Chinese Drama: Cao Yu amongst Playwrights" (2017).
Committee Chair: Dr. Qiancheng Li.
Emily O'Dell
"The Child Ethnographer in the Field: Examples from English, Spanish, and French Caribbean Literature" (2019).
Committee Chair: Dr. Solimar Otero.
Vida Owusu-Boateng
"Translocating the Greeks: A Comparative Study of Medea and Electra in Cuba and South Africa" (2019).
Committee Chair: Dr. Solimar Otero.
Ikea Johnson
"The Underground of History: Spirituality as Reflected Through Movement, Community, and the Chaos of Formlessness in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man" (2022).
Committee Chair: Dr. Fahima Ife.
Anwita Ray
"Dissident Voices of South Asia: New Representations of Marginalization in Twenty-First Century Literature and Cinema" (2022).
Committee Chair: Dr. Touria Khannous.
José F. Rojas
"Transatlantic Perspectives of Deviant and Criminal Women in European, Latin American, and American Narratives" (2020).
Committee Chair: Dr. Dorota Heneghan.
Guillermo Severiche
"The Politics of Sensations: Body and Texture in Contemporary Cinema and Literature (Argentina - Cuba - Ireland)" (2016).
Committee Chair: Dr. Laura Martins.
Jacqueline Zimmer
"Re-examining and Redefining the Concepts of Community, Justice, and Masculinity in the Works of René Depestre, Carlos Fuentes, and Ernest Gaines" (2016).
Committee Chair: Dr. Adelaide Russo.