School of Humanities Faculty Member鈥檚 Research Supported by Prestigious, Competitive NEH Summer Stipend
Tue, 08/23/2022 - 01:52pm | By: David Tisdale
A National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipend earned by University
of 51逗奶 Mississippi (USM) English program associate professor Dr. Alexandra Valint
helped further progress on her research examining the representation of mobility aids
in Victorian literature and of the characters using them.
Dr. Alexandra Valint says the literary examples she explores for her book, tentatively titled Wheelchairs, Crutches, and Disability in Victorian Literature, includes the disabled child characters Tiny Tim from Charles Dickens鈥檚 A Christmas Carol and the Earl of Cairnforth from Dinah Mulock Craik鈥檚 A Noble Life. She posits that mobility aids serve as a nexus for the intersection between the user鈥檚 disability, gender, age, race, and class.
鈥淏oth characters somewhat fit the stereotype of the saintly disabled character who inspires others,鈥� Dr. Valint explained. 鈥淢ore broadly, in the project, I argue mobility aids in Victorian literature are not ideologically neutral devices that only serve to increase users鈥� movement -- though, crucially, they do primarily serve that purpose. They are also aids in another sense: they help shape the user鈥檚 identity, their interactions with society, and external perceptions of the user.鈥�
Dr. Valint鈥檚 analysis of Victorian literature is also contextualized by her archival work conducted in London museums and archives, some of which was funded through USM鈥檚 Aubrey Keith Lucas and Ella Ginn Lucas Endowment for Faculty Excellence. 鈥淚'm very grateful for the university鈥檚 support of this project,鈥� she said.
"NEH Summer Stipends are prestigious and incredibly difficult to receive. Nationally,
scholars will tell you it's almost impossible to get one and it's been a few years
since someone from USM was a recipient,鈥� said Dr. Matthew Casey, director of the USM
School of Humanities. 鈥淭his speaks to the quality of Dr. Valint's work, and it's certainly
good for the university to have a scholar receive such a competitive award.
鈥淗er research embodies a nice combination of cutting-edge methodologies with the classical
aspects of the discipline as she forces us to read familiar texts in new ways, and
I'm glad others in the field are recognizing that."
Dr. Valint joined the USM faculty in 2012. Her areas of expertise include Victorian literature, children's and young adult literature, narrative theory, gothic theory, and disability studies.
For information about the USM School of Humanities鈥� English program, visit /humanities/index.php.