Ph.D. Romance Studies (French), 2009
"Although I have shifted to media and cultural studies, my preparation in Duke's Department of Romance Studies has shaped my approach to intellectual programs. Duke is a unique place to pursue graduate studies in the humanities, as it allows students great latitude to define adventurous projects that cross disciplinary and departmental boundaries—I saw numerous of my colleagues within and beyond Romance Studies do this during my time at the University. Unlike some other institutions with interdisciplinary ambitions, Duke has the faculty to back it up. This means not only that an early-career scholar can find mentors willing to make intellectual leaps, but that those leaps will be moored to academic rigor and intellectual debates. My work in Romance Studies at Duke taught me to read texts carefully, creatively, and critically, to imagine that the category "text" is as broad as human cultural production is varied, and to understand that textuality might be as important as any individual text. Although I have ranged professionally quite far from the French literary works that first drew me to Duke, my training in Romance Studies is a large part of what has prepared me to make that journey."
