Education

PhD, English with minor in Medieval Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2019)

MA, English, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2014)

Dual BAs, Literature and Theatre Arts, American University (2011)

About Me

I am an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Southern Mississippi, where I teach early British literature. My preferred name is Parker, and I use she/they pronouns. I am originally from Bothell, WA (north of Seattle) and spent five years in Washington, DC before moving to Wisconsin in 2012 and to Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2019.

My book project is provisionally titled Light of the Everlasting Life: Disability and Salvation in Old English Literature. In it, I explore how ideas of disability and embodiment shaped early medieval Christian concepts of the afterlife in Old English literature. My broader research agenda explores histories of disability in the Middle Ages, alongside phenomenologies of religion and histories of medicine. While I primarily study literature and language, my work also utilizes methods from the traditional (e.g., codicology) to the cutting edge (e.g., multispectral imaging) and engages with a wide range of disciplines including history, material culture, archaeology, and sociology.

Research Interests

Old and Middle English literature; disability studies; hagiography and homiletics; history of medicine; phenomenology of religion; digital humanities

Teaching Interests

Medieval and early modern literature (including Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton); disability, race, gender, and sexuality; medievalism; Old English, Middle English, and history of the English language; health and medical humanities; digital humanities

Contact

Email: Leah.Parker@usm.edu