Graduate Studies in English

Ph.D. Student Profiles

Tara Needham

B.A. Philosophy (magna cum laude), Stony Brook University

Research Interests:
My research areas include cultural and critical theory (with a focus on materialist and feminist discourses), transnational modernisms, and postcolonial literature. I have particular interest in practical, cultural and theoretical productions of space and place, including the political ramifications of (re)conceptualizations of home, dwelling, “the public” and community.

Select Publications:

• “Projections of America: Negotiating Boundaries of State and Self,” Review of John R. Eperjesi’s The Imperialist Imaginary and Laura Browder’s Slippery Characters, in Journal of Modern Literature, forthcoming 2007
• “Faux Factory: Barthes Walks into a Starbucks,” Techknowledgies: New Imaginaries in the Humanities, Arts, & TechnoSciences, Cambridge Scholars Publishing,
  2007

Select Conference Presentations:

• “9/10 of the Problem: Living, Working and Writing in Williams Carlos Williams’
  Paterson,” Invited presenter at the Americanist Exchange Symposium with Syracuse University, University at Albany, April 2007
• “Gimme Shelter: Security, Homemaking and the Multitude in The Female American,” Envisioning Home: The CUNY Comparative Literature Graduate
  Conference, The Graduate Center of CUNY, November 2006

Select Fellowships and Awards:

• Seminar participant, “Transnational Culture” School of Criticism and Theory, Cornell University, 2007
• University at Albany, Department of English, Research Travel Grant, 2005
• New York State Summer Writers Institute, Tuition Scholarship, 2005

Select Teaching Experience:
ENG 121: Introduction to Reading Literature
ENG 222: World Literature
ENG 240: Growing Up in America
ENG 102z: Introduction to Creative Writing
ENG 399z: Imperial Adventures (teaching assistant to Prof. Bret Benjamin)

tara@taraemelye.com