Sara L. Pfaff English Department, Brown University Box 1852, Providence, RI 02912 phone: (586) 596-7130 email: [email protected]

Education:

Brown University, Providence, RI 2008— Ph.D., English, completion May 2016 M.A., English, May 2010

Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 2003—2008 B.A., English, May 2008 B.A., History, May 2008

Dissertation:

“Pluralism and Pathology in Ethnic American Fiction” explores the political implications of alternative configurations of multiethnic communities in American literature since 1965. In particular, my project examines how tropes of pathology and disease reflect—not just bodies that are in transition—but also communities and individuals that are increasingly interconnected, interdependent, and metastable. The pathological and ailing body functions as a literary device that advocates for the centrality of contingency and adaptation within ethnic, political, and social forms of belonging. I argue that this emphasis on contingent identity troubles the reified identity forms disseminated by nationalist ideologies and introduces alternative forms of belonging based in liminality, uncertainty, and debate. Tropes of pathological embodiment in the novels of N. Scott Momaday, John A. Williams, John E. Wideman, Louise Erdrich, Paul Beatty, Sherman Alexie, and Colson Whitehead thus provide a vital critique of (and alternative to) dominant ideologies of multiculturalism, which have recently been shown as reinforcing, rather than rectifying, racial inequality. This project explains how this literary device is congruent with a refashioning of multiculturalism in literary criticism; and analyzes how contingent configurations of identity are compatible with the rise of pluralism in emerging political, scientific, and cultural theory.

Chair: Rolland Murray Committee: Professors Daniel Kim and Ralph Rodriguez

Publications:

“‘The slack string is just a slack string’: Neoformalist Networks in The White Boy Shuffle”. LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory 26.2 (2015). Pp106-127.

Sara L. Pfaff, CV - 2

Papers Presented:

“‘That Persistent Mind-Body Problem’: Timeless Bodies of Pluralism in Colson Whitehead’s Novels”. Northeast Modern Language Association Convention. Harrisburg, PA. April 2014.

“The ‘blood magic’ of Ralph Ellison’s Three Days Before the Shooting”. Futures of American Studies Institute. Hanover, NH. June 2013.

“‘The slack string is just a slack string’: Network and Translation in The White Boy Shuffle”. American Comparative Literature Association Conference. Providence, RI. April 2012.

“Queer Phenomenologies: Placelessness and Queertopia in Inherent Vice” (pre-circulated). Cityscapes and Fiction Conference, Providence, RI. April 2010.

“Munro, Sideshadowing, and Biopolitical Subjectivity”. Annual Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities Conference, Providence, RI. March 2010.

Fellowships and Grants:

Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America Graduate Fellowship (2015-16) Brown University Dissertation Fellowship; Brown University (2011-13) Brown University Graduate School Conference Travel Grant (2012) Mellon Graduate Workshop Grant; Brown University (2010-2013) Brown University Teaching Fellowship; Brown University (2009-2011) Brown University Fellowship; Brown University (2008-2009) Joseph and Mary Yelda Scholarship; Wayne State University (2007-2008) Mark and Linee Diem Scholarship; Wayne State University (2007-2008) Abraham Borman Scholarship; Wayne State University (2006-2007) Dustin Rose Memorial Scholarship; Wayne State University (2005-2006) Michigan Merit Award; State of Michigan (2003-2005) Robert C. Byrd Scholarship; State of Michigan (2003-2005) Wayne State University Presidential Scholarship; Wayne State University (2003-2007)

Research and Teaching Interests:

African American and Native American literature, American literature of the twentieth century, Identity Politics, Science and Literature, Political Theories of Liberalism, Composition and Writing.

Teaching Experience:

Brown University, Graduate Student Instructor Writing the Expository Essay (2015), Department of Continuing Studies

Writing the Analytic Essay (2013-14), Department of Continuing Studies 3

Putting Yourself into Words (2013), Department of Continuing Studies

Wolf Like Me: Retroviral Anxiety in American Literature (2011), Department of English

The Academic Essay as Ophthalmology (2010), Non-Fiction Writing Program

Brown University, Teaching Assistant Love, Horror, Beauties, Monsters: Writing about Literature by Reading Below the Surface (2014-15), Instructor David Babcock, Department of Continuing Studies

Writing for College and Beyond (2011), Instructor Khristina Gonzalez, Department of Continuing Studies Online Program

Cultures and Countercultures (2010), Professor Deak Nabers, Department of English

Literature of the American Renaissance (2009), Professor Deak Nabers, Department of English

Brown University, Additional Teaching Experience Writing Center Associate, 2008-13 Sheridan Center Certificate 1 Program, 2010

Wayne State University, Tutor Detroit Fellows Tutoring Project, 2004-05

Academic Service:

Mentor, “Excellence at Brown”: Intensive Writing for Incoming Freshmen (2010-13) Co-chair, English Department Graduate Student Forum, (2011-12) Co-chair, Graduate Student Lecture Committee (2010)

Professional Affiliations:

Modern Language Association The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States American Comparative Literature Association