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Trauma, Disasters, and the Holocaust

Sharon Marquart’s research focuses on traumas and disasters, which she engages through the lens of feminist thought. She has published a book on Nazi camp survivor testimonies, has co-edited a book (in French) on French Resistance fighter and Auschwitz survivor Charlotte Delbo, and has published numerous articles and book chapters on World War II and the Holocaust. Her current research examines an array of crises from disability diagnoses to the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. Dr. Marquart has collaborated with a number of students on her research on these topics both in and out of the classroom. Contact her for current student research opportunities.

American conservatism and Black activism

Kate Aguilar’s research examines Miami and South Florida as critical locations for understanding American conservatism and Black activism in the 1980s. Using the University of Miami football team and of the mid-1980s as a case study, her work deconstructs the belief that the revolt of the Black athlete ended in the 1970s and challenges scholars of modern conservatism to consider college football as a part of the culture wars. She is working on a book, America's Outlaws: How University of Miami Football Challenged Reagan's America, under contract with the University of Illinois Press. Dr. Aguilar has collaborated with students on sports history related topics.

Women in ancient Greece compared to contemporary issues

Yurie Hong’s research centers on women in ancient Greece and the personal impact that such study can have on the way we understand ourselves and contemporary issues. Her areas of interest fall into roughly three categories: 1) Representations of pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood in ancient Greek medical and literary texts. 2) Inclusive pedagogy and teaching about sensitive subjects such as race and gender violence in antiquity. 3) Ancient and modern connections in relation to issues of personal identity (i.e. thinking through arranged marriage through the lens of her Korean grandmother’s experience) and political structures and crises (e.g. in American and Athenian democracy). Taken together, her work makes the case that engaging with ancient culture can help us think more deeply about modern life for the purposes of personal growth, communal healing, and the creation of a more just society.

Addiction, trauma, and oppression

Peg O’Connor is a professor of philosophy and the Raymond and Florence Sponberg Professor of Ethics. She regularly teaches courses in moral and social philosophy and on the subjects of addiction, trauma, and oppression. Peg is also a recovering alcoholic of 37 years who believes philosophy helped her to get and stay sober. She is the author of Higher and Friendly Powers: Transforming Addiction and Suffering, The Sober Philosopher Workbook Exploring Addiction and Creating Recovery, and Life on the Rocks: Finding Meaning in Addiction and Recovery. She has a blog, “Philosophy Stirred, Not Shaken,” on psychologytoday.com She can be found on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook @thesoberphilosopher. Many of her writings and interviews can be found on her website,

Identity politics in marginalized populations

Angelique Dwyer specializes in Mexico / U.S. Intercultural Studies, Chicana / Latina Cultural Production, Performance Art and Film. Her research, teaching and civic engagement highlight identity politics in marginalized populations within a local and global terrain. She is particularly interested in the representation of liminal identities in Latinx/Latin American pop culture analyzed through the lens of Performance Theory. She has published articles on Mexican cabaret artist Astrid Hadad, indigenous folk singer Lila Downs, and L.A. based queer artist Alma López. Her book chapter “De broma en broma, la verdad se asoma: lotería y dicotomía cultural en ‘Sístole, diástole’ de Carlos Cuarón” offers a gender and sexuality reading of Cuarón’s short film, which invites viewers to reconceive traditional norms through the framing of (oppositional) Lotería cards. She recently completed a creative non-fiction project written in Spanglish, entitled "Gringos mexicanos," which broadens the dialogue on Mexican American identity. Her stories can be read in PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies or heard in the podcast gringosmexicanos.org.

Colonialisms, postcolonial studies, settler history 

Ursula Lindqvist specializes in Nordic colonialisms and postcolonial studies, particularly gendered dimensions; Indigenous-settler histories and relations; Nordic cinema (with a current focus on women in film); Nordic feminisms; and diversity and social change in the Nordic region today. She has published two books on Nordic cinema, co-edited a book anthology on diversity in modern Nordic culture and society, and published articles on women in Danish West Indian fiction, the colonial dimensions of the IKEA store, and situating Nordic “minor” colonialism within European and U.S. frameworks. Recently she has been working with students to conduct archival research that investigates the settler history of �鶹��Ƶ and its implications for the college’s presence on Dakota homelands today.

Media and culture

Martin Lang studies and teaches on topics related to media and culture, with a special focus on the relationship between power and identity. He examines the representation of race, class, and gender through feminist and critical cultural perspectives. He has studied the influence of Whiteness in local news reporting about Minnesota’s indigenous peoples and the impact of media on our collective ideas of manhood. He also collaborates with students and community members to leverage media for positive social change, including a recent documentary co-produced with our local Somali neighbors and another produced in partnership with sustainable farming practitioners from around the state.

Public policy and interest group

Kate Knutson studies and teaches about U.S. government and politics, with a particular focus on public policy and interest groups. Her current research focuses on the development of child welfare policy in Minnesota. She’s also writing an open-access (i.e. free) online textbook about public policy and policy writing that is designed for undergraduate students that features essays written by �鶹��Ƶ alumni who work in politics and government. Kate loves to involve students in her research and writing projects, so interested students are welcome to talk with her about opportunities to get involved.

Contemporary Nordic literature and society

Kjerstin Moody focuses her teaching and research on contemporary Nordic literature and society, with an emphasis on poetry, women writers, and writers whose work centers on issues related to difference, identity, migration, diaspora, and belonging in Nordic-global contexts. Kjerstin’s article in Nordic Literature: A Comparative History, Volume 1: Spatial Nodes (John Benjamins, 2017) considers these issues across classic and contemporary Swedish, Finnish, Afro-Swedish, and Sámi poetry. Her most recent scholarship and literary translation work appeared as part of the box set of contemporary Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson (Arrow Films, 2023). She regularly team-teaches a four-week course with associate professor Dr. Jeff La Frenierre (EGE, Environmental Studies) in Iceland that investigates the intersections of “sustainability” with globalization, travel, and cultural objectification. Kjerstin enjoys advising and working with students in classroom, research, and community-building settings, helping arrange and guide students through internships and career explorations, and helping students think through study away and service-learning opportunities as meaningful parts of their �鶹��Ƶ experience.

Politics of shame and shaming

Jill Locke is professor of Political Science and James McPherson Endowed Chair in American History. She is a democratic theorist whose primary area of expertise has been the politics of shame and shaming, a topic on which she has a book (Democracy and the Death of Shame, Cambridge University Press, 2016), several articles, op-eds and interviews, and has lectured internationally. Her current research is on the politics of girl power and she regularly teaches a course in GWSS on this topic. Dr. Locke regularly speaks to the media about abortion law politics, another area of research and teaching interest, particularly since the Supreme Court decision Dobbs v Jackson (2022) overturned Roe v Wade (1973).

Social media and technological innovation to reduce health inequities

Lai Sze Tso is an assistant professor in the Sociology & Anthropology Department. Her research, teaching, and activism collectively address the use of social media and technological innovation to reduce health inequities. Working closely with vulnerable stigmatized populations, community organizations, and healthcare professionals, she studies and develops social media health interventions on improving access to knowledge, care, and resources in public health, nursing, and medicine. Applying a multi-sectoral approach to social change, Dr. Tso collaborates with students, doctors, nurses, community health workers, advocacy groups, health medtech companies, and researchers in the US, China, Ghana, and Norway. Students interested in mentored research, funding, internships, courses, careers, or advocacy efforts to support vulnerable groups (including LGBTQ+, refugees, immigrants, people living with HIV/AIDS, youth, women, elderly, communities of color) are encouraged to schedule a meeting with Dr. Tso.

Francophone immigrant literature

Séverine Bates is an Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies. A specialist of Francophone immigrant literature, her research focuses not only on discourses on race and national identity in France but also on the representation of Blackness (especially in relation to the experiences of black women and black African migrants) in French and North African literatures and media. Dr. Bates has presented her work at various regional and international conferences such as the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (RMMLA), or the 20th and 21st Century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium. In addition to publishing on the interconnections between Francophone literature, popular media culture, and African emigration to Europe, she is currently working on a manuscript on the representation of the “Black African Migrant” in North African literature. She loves to collaborate with students, so if you are interested in doing a research project with her or simply in learning more about French Black Studies or Francophone immigrant literature, do not hesitate to contact her.

Spanish and Latin American film and contemporary Spanish narrative and essay

Darío Sánchez-González is Associate Professor of Spanish. His main field of research is Spanish and Latin American film and contemporary Spanish narrative and essay, both in Spanish as well as in other languages of Spain (Asturian, Catalan, Galician). In the past, he has also worked extensively on literature in Portuguese from Angola and Portugal. Throughout his research and his teaching, Dr. Sánchez-González focuses on the intersections between sexuality, gender, and other categories, especially class and national belonging, and the ways these are portrayed in media, literature, and other forms of discourse. He has published book chapters on Spanish filmmakers Josefina Molina, Cecilia Bartolomé, Ventura Pons, and Ignacio Vilar, addressing feminist film-making and queer representation in film. His last published work comments on Chilean writer Hernán Díaz-Arrieta’s gay cruising experiences in 1950’s Madrid. Currently, he is working on three articles, dealing with diverse topics: the uses of BDSM in Argentinian gay-themed film A Year Without Love (Anahí Berneri, 2005), friendships under neoliberalism in Spanish film Nothing in Return (Daniel Guzmán, 2015), and queer representation in Spanish film Gay Club (Ramón Fernández, 1981). If you wish to learn more about his research or his courses, or if there is a project that Dr. Sánchez-González can help you with.

Carlos Mejía Suárez is Associate Professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. His main field of expertise is Latin American literature, more specifically narratives from the so-called “Latin American boom”, as well as contemporary Colombian novels. In his research, professor Mejía explores the intersections between literary representation, gender studies, and peace studies. In 2021, he published the book Escrituras de lo diabólico. Retos de la alteridad en la literatura latinoamericana moderna y postmoderna. In it, he maps the role of demonic imagery in the way Latin American authors tackle socio-cultural issues related to different forms of alterity. More recently, his research focuses on issues of masculinity in the backdrop of socio-political violence in Colombia. In particular, his article about Colombian novelist Tomás González (“Padres vulnerables”) studies the role of the father from the point of view of vulnerability, rather than from a patriarchal stand point. He is currently working on an article about neo-extractivism in Colombian narratives, such as Los cristales de la sal [Salt Crystals] by Cristina Bendek, El diablo de las provincias [The Devil of the Provinces] by Juan Cárdenas , Alfredo Molano’s chronicles, and Pablo Guerra and Laura Acero’s cómic Caminos condenados. Carlos welcomes students to collaborate with him in comparative studies of these topics with literature and film from the United States and/or other regions of the world. To know more about collaboration opportunities with him, please contact him.

African and Black Feminisms, Literatures, theories, and histories

Martha Ndakalako is Assistant Professor of English. Along with teaching courses in the English department and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, Dr. Ndakalako also teaches courses in the African / African Diaspora Studies program. Her research interests include African/Black Feminisms, African and global Black Literatures; and postcolonial literatures, theories, and African histories. Her teaching is informed by these interests, and she teaches African Feminisms; Women Writing Africa; African Digital Literatures; World Literatures (with a focus on Black and African literatures); and Postcolonial African Literatures. Dr. Ndakalako has several recent publications on Namibian Digital Literatures and feminisms, and co-edited the collection African Women and their Networks of Support: Intervening Connections (Lexington Books, 2020). She is currently working on a book chapter on new African diaspora literature and a series of articles on the 2020 Namibian feminist movement, #ShutItAllDown, and Namibian feminisms more broadly. 

Literary theory and gender & women’s studies

Elizabeth Kubek is Professor of English, with areas of specialization in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the novel, literary theory, and gender/women’s studies. She completed her PhD as the inaugural Susan B. Anthony Fellow at the University of Rochester (1989), with a dissertation on women and gender in the 18th-century city of London. Other research, publication, and teaching areas include Medical Humanities, Interfaith Studies, Food Studies, History of the Book, and Graphic Texts and New Media.