Graduate College - The University of Iowa

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English

UI faculty research projects in English currently available to SROP scholars. This list does not represent all faculty interested in being mentors. Please check the English faculty website for additional research interests.

'Dream Not of Other Worlds': Teaching in a Segregated School, Louisa, Virginia 1970

Principal Investigator	Huston Diehl, Professor Department(s): English College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Research Description	I am writing a memoir of my experience teaching in a rural, segregated "Negro" Elementary School in 1970. Research for this book includes archival work, local history of the county, reading secondary works on segregated schools and interviewing if possible former students.
Undergraduate Role	Working in library, online and with archival material. Finding, reading and summarizing relevant material. If I can secure outside funding, possibility of gathering oral histories. Also reading and responding to my manuscript.
Minimum Qualifications	Interest in African-American culture. Basic research skills and willingness to learn more advanced research skills. Curiosity.
Contact Information	319-335-0442 huston-diehl@uiowa.edu Professor Huston Diehl

The British Rock Imaginary

Principal Investigator	Cheryl Herr, Professor Department(s): English College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Interdisciplinary Program(s): Cinema and Comparative Literature
Research Description	I'm writing a book on British popular music, especially but not exclusively rock music, from the thirties to the present.
Undergraduate Role	This individual needs to have musical training, in particular the ability to read scores. the student will locate appropriate scores, analyze specified selections, and comment on the discussion of music in my manuscript.
Minimum Qualifications	Interest in British popular music and literature in the 20th century. Knowledge of basic music theory. Creativity and initiative.
Contact Information	319-335-3219 or 679-2977 cheryl-herr@uiowa.edu Professor Cheryl Herr

Horvat Science Fiction Fanzine Collection Inventory and Research

Principal Investigator	Brooks Landon, Professor and Chair Department(s): English College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Research Description	The University of Iowa has acquired one of the largest collections in the United States of fanzines and fan writing about science fiction and fantasy. Fanzine and fan culture in science fiction has traditionally worked much like the minor leagues in baseball--almost every major SF writer started publishing as a fan and continues to engage in dialogue with fans in fanzines and other fan publications. There are over 250,000 items in this largely uncatalogued collection and I am one of several researchers trying to find out what is there, both in general and in relation to specific issues that commanded attention in the science fiction community between 1960 and 1990. This was a period in which science fiction began seriously to explore issues of race, gender, and sexuality and was also a period of political involvement, particularly as it concerned the Viet Nam War.
Undergraduate Role	Dive into the boxes and boxes of Horvat materials and see what's there, looking for articles by fans who soon became major science fiction writers, science fiction writers responding to fans, and the various forums between writers and readers that uniquely exist in the science fiction community. I'd be interested in someone who just wants to get a feel for working with popular culture archive materials and I'd be particularly interested in someone who has a more specific interest, such as the rise of feminist concerns in science fiction or the rise in awareness of racial implications in SF.
Minimum Qualifications	Some interest in science fiction or fan culture. Basic research skills and willingness to help catalogue these materials as we explore them.
Contact Information	319-335-0453/0454 brooks-landon@uiowa.edu Professor Brooks Landon

Victorian Arguments With Animals

Principal Investigator	Teresa Mangum, Associate Professor Department(s): English College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Research Description	I am writing a series of articles on the changing relationship between humans and animals in the nineteenth century. I am collecting and reviewing representations of animals - paintings, drawings, cartoons, novels, plays, poems, and magazine essays that focus on animals.
Undergraduate Role	An undergraduate researcher would help me to build a database of primary materials. He or she would explore Victorian magazines for images and essays, review children's books about animals in Special Collections, and investigate the holdings of nineteenth-century materials in the health sciences library.
Minimum Qualifications	Interest in cultural and literary study.
Contact Information	319-335-0232 teresa-mangum@uiowa.edu Professor Teresa Mangum

One Small Step for "The Man"

Principal Investigator	Doris Witt , Associate Professor Department(s): English College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Research Description	I am writing a book about the space race and ongoing space exploration that explores this history from the perspective of nonwhite peoples in the U.S. and around the world (with a particular focus on African Americans). The aim, in short, is to reconceive this history from a postcolonial perspective. The research methodology combines archival and ethnographic approaches with analysis of cultural artifacts such as fiction, poetry, visual art, and film.
Undergraduate Role	Primarily assistance in compiling an archive of material from the popular press such as newspapers and magazines. Help in identifying appropriate cultural texts for inclusion in such a study.
Minimum Qualifications	Attention to detail and enthusiasm; interest in the subject matter also desirable.
Contact Information	319-335-0432 doris-witt@uiowa.edu Professor Doris Witt