People

Sophie Labenski holds a B.A. from Freie Universität Berlin (2020) in English and German Philology with a focus on teaching and an M.A. from Dartmouth College (2022) in Comparative Literature. She is awaiting two more M.A. degrees to be awarded (one in English Studies and one in Modern German Literature from Freie Universität Berlin). She has served as a language teaching assistant for the Duke University in Berlin Program and has experience as a teaching assistant for two courses at Dartmouth. In 2024, she began her PhD at Rutgers University.

Her research focuses on fin-de-siècle British literature, with a particular interest in how monstrosity, urbanity, and sexuality intersect in literary and cultural texts. In addition, she has a secondary specialization in film and media studies and has worked extensively in the field of Digital Humanities.

In both her research and teaching, Sophie examines how literature and media engage with cultural anxieties, particularly in relation to representations of the body, space, and societal norms.

Jein (pronounced as "JAY-IN") Kim's research interest covers American literature and critical theory specifically with regards to how modern and contemporary novels revisit the scenes of violence in American history, particularly within the context of Atlantic slavery and its afterlife.

Mariam is interested in 20th and 21st century postcolonial Global Anglophone literature, with a specific focus on South Asian literature. Her research considers the gendered, colonial, religious, and national aesthetics that emerge in postcolonial contact zones and explores how literary narratives from these regions both assist in the formulation of these discourses and subvert them. 

Colton Hicks is a scholar of American literature from the long nineteenth century with particular interest in histories of gender and sexuality, 19th century print cultures and formats, and poetry and poetics.  His work traces early representations of sex and sexuality in the American print archive and is especially interested in how mass circulation of erotic literature enabled the development of sexual subcultures, countering hegenomic understandings of the body and its sexual, eortic, and romantic possiblities. He is particularly invested in exploring the types of sex, sexuality, and modes of relationality that modern understandings of sexuality disregard or leave behind. 

Along with his scholarly interests, Colton is dedicated to teaching and tutoring the craft of writing. He is passionate about improving literacy and helping students engage themselves with writing across various fields and interests. Colton is especially drawn to working with, teaching, and supporting underprivileged students, first-generation college students, and others who feel lost or poorly represented in higher education.