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Research Groups & Collaborations

Research Groups

Research groups (or “subfields”) are informal, extra-curricular associations of professors and graduate students devoted to special interests within the Department of English. Research groups typically meet once or twice a month, on or off campus, for discussion of classic texts, recently published works, or faculty and student works in progress. Many students participate in more than one group. If a group is not formed that suits your interests, the graduate office can help you start one! Some currently active research groups include the following:

Medieval and Early Modern Research Group

The Medieval & Early Modern Research Group is a student-led interdisciplinary forum for graduate students and faculty interested in medieval and early modern Europe and the spread of European colonialism. We entertain a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, and we organize discussions, presentations, and events on topics concerning the scholarship, teaching, and critical theory relevant to work in the medieval and early modern fields. Contact Lindsay Craig for more information.

Medieval Research Group

The Medieval Research Group is a multi-disciplinary group with members from several departments, including English, History, and Classics, and from several local universities in addition to the University, such as Hamline, St. Katherine’s, and the University of Minnesota, Morris. Though members represent a variety of disciplines and methodologies, all share a common interest in the Middle Ages. We meet three times each semester with the goal of providing a friendly atmosphere in which to share and discuss members’ research and current projects and to practice conference presentations. For more information, contact Lindsay Craig.

Poetry Subfield

The Poetry Subfield is dedicated to promoting poetry in the English Department, the University, and in the Twin Cities community. We intend to help create more poetry-related events (readings, lectures, etc.) at the University, either through our own efforts or in collaboration with other literary groups in the community. We gather several times during the school-year to discuss poetry and poetics, and to provide support for each other's critical projects about poetry. Our group is open to all graduate students in the English Department, including MFA students. For more information, please contact Becky Weaver.

Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Subfield

Our group provides a network for students and faculty interested in matters of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We organize discussions and presentations on topics concerning scholarship, teaching, and critical theory relevant to work in the fields of twenty and twenty-first century literatures and cultures. Contact us at ttonec@umn.edu for more information.

Nineteenth Century British Subfield

We are a group of graduate students and faculty members dedicated to exploring the literature, history and culture of the long nineteenth century, especially in Great Britain and its empire. Not limited to the English Department or the University of Minnesota, we have members in the History and Cultural Studies / Comparative Literatures Departments as well as several area colleges and universities. We meet monthly to discuss works-in-progress, including seminar or conference papers, potential articles, and dissertation and book chapters. Many works presented first in the subfield have gone on to become major articles and chapters in books, and many of our former members now have jobs throughout the country. Yet we encourage the presentation of work at all levels, from the preliminary to the polished. The subfield is a great place for anyone interested in the British nineteenth century to find a welcoming community and interested listeners.

In addition to our monthly workshops, the Nineteenth-Century Subfield hosts speakers and participates in symposia with other departments and graduate programs. Our most recent speaker, Susan Wolfson of Princeton University, presented “Byron’s Ghosts” to students and faculty from many disciplines and time periods. Other speakers have included John Kucich (Rutgers), Saree Makdisi (UCLA), Christine Krueger (Marquette), Nancy Armstrong (Brown), Mary Poovey (NYU), and Kate Flint (Rutgers). We have also teamed up with graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to present a symposium of graduate student work-in-progress.

The resources for the student of the nineteenth century at the University of Minnesota and in the Twin Cities more generally are rich ones. The library’s holdings in nineteenth-century literature are extensive, with an especially impressive collection of nineteenth-century periodicals. The Ames Collection has a substantial collection of resources about the British Empire, including many manuscript sources and little-known pamphlets. The Medical Library has many hard-to-find scientific texts about nineteenth-century science. For those interested in detective literature, there is collection of Sherlock Holmesiana that is unparalleled in the world. In the Twin Cities, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts has a fascinating collection of nineteenth-century British paintings and household objects, along with a large set of prints and original sketches and drawings by major British artists. For those interested in the history of science, the Bakken Museum in Minneapolis has a huge collection of works and exhibits relating in particular to the history of electricity.

We encourage all those interested in the British nineteenth century to attend our meetings and to share ideas and enthusiasm. For more information on the Nineteenth-Century Subfield please email us at nineteen@umn.edu.

grad research

Paper presentation at the Nineteenth-Century British Subfield's graduate student symposium