Co-Directors
Derrick Higginbotham (Associate Professor of English, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa) teaches late medieval and early modern English literature, working at the intersection of queer theory, critical race studies, and eco-criticism. He is finishing a book entitled Winners and Wasters: Gender, Economics and Theater in England, c. 1350 – c. 1650. Email
Kenna Olsen (Professor, English, Languages, and Cultures) works in Old and Middle English literatures, and is currently musing about how the environments of place, space, and time actualize and effect in literatures. Email | Website
Advisory Council
Courtney Barajas (Assistant Professor of English & Director of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Whitworth University in Spokane) works at the intersection of literary, environmental, and religious studies. When she’s not reading or teaching, Courtney spends her time hiking, kayaking, and adding to her collection of cacti. Website | Email
Noah Guynn (Professor, French and Comparative Literature, University of California, Davis) is a specialist in medieval and early modern literature and drama. He has recently published a monograph with the University of Pennsylvania Press, Pure Filth: Ethics, Politics, and Religion in Early French Farce, and has coedited (with Marilynn Desmond) a volume of Romanic Review entitled Category Crossings: Bruno Latour and Medieval Modes of Existence. Email
Sarah-Nelle Jackson (PhD Candidate, English Language and Literatures, University of British Columbia) explores the emergence of early notions of the “environment” in Middle English literary, legal, and historiographical discourse. She also enjoys playing and overthining neo-medieval video games and plans to incorporate critical game methods into her multimedia dissertation. Twitch | Email
Leila Kate Norako (Assistant Professor, English, University of Washington) specializes in late medieval literature and culture, and also contemporary medievalisms. She is a co-blogger at In the Medieval Middle, and PI of the digital project The Richard Coer de Lyon Multitext. When not teaching or writing, she can be found galavanting around PNW parks and beaches with her children and spouse or dancing traditional hula with Nā Lei ‘O Manu’akepa. Website | Email
Sharon O’Dair (Professor Emerita, English, University of Alabama) currently lives in Berkeley, California and writes about Shakespeare, ecology, social class, and the profession of literary studies. Email
Kirsten Schuhmacher (PhD Candidate, English, University of California, Davis) studies early modern poetry & prose and rhetoric through an ecocritical lens. Most of the time, you can find her talking to her plants and learning about new trees. Email
Members’ and Collaborators’ Bookshelf
If you have questions about our webpage or our programming, please contact Sarah-Nelle Jackson.
Oecologies 