Current PhD Student

Francesca Quinn

Thesis Title:

Healing the Body and Healing the Land - Environmental Activism and Well-being Practices in Alaska Native Poetry

Supervisor:

Professor David Stirrup

Description:

A rise in bodily illnesses in conjunction with environmental degradation has been experienced by communities across the world such as the Inupiat - a North Slope Alaska Indigenous people. A parallel - which can also be found in Alaska Native cultural knowledge - is therefore established between the degradation of the land through its exploitation and the degradation of the human body. My research examines the contemporary relationship between body and land in a corpus of Alaska Native poetry, as shown through the themes of environmental activism and healing.

I hold a BA from the Université de Caen Normandie and an MRes from the University of Kent. For my MRes, I worked with Prof David Stirrup on a thesis entitled “Women and Nature in Contemporary North American Indigenous Poetry”. I am also Co-Director of the New Voices in Postcolonial Studies Research Network for the 2023-2024 academic year.