Personnel Profile
Abby Mann, Assistant Professor in English
Abby received her PhD from Indiana University in 2010, where she focused on Victorian Literature with a minor in Science and Literature. Her dissertation focused on the manner in which late nineteenth-century feminists turned to evolutionary thinking as a way to authorize individual actions while still functioning as part of the community. She is continuing to develop this project, while also working on projects about the intersections of science and culture more generally. After graduating, she joined the faculty at the University of Indianapolis, for which she spent half of each year teaching at UIndy's sister school in Ningbo, China. Her time in China, where air-conditioning is rare, somewhat prepared her for South Texas. She, her husband, Tony, and her extremely handsome French Bulldog, Gus, are enjoying exploring the tastes, sights and beaches of the area.
Areas of Interest
Victorian Literature, Science and Literature, Feminist Theory
Conferences and Presentations
“Picturing the Self Within Time.” Interdisciplinary Nineteenth Century Studies Conference. March 2012.
Examining several nineteenth-century lyric poets, I argue that engaging with evolutionary thought forced them to engage with temporality and the material world in fresh ways.
“How Victorian Feminists Saw Regression as a Source of Hope.” Midwest Victorian Studies Association. April 2012.
While many late-Victorian horror stories centered around figures of de-evolution, women at the time, I argued, found these images hopeful in that it allowed them to imagine the destruction of restrictive social structures.
Publications:
“Objects and Objectivity: Harriet Martineau as Nineteenth Century Cyborg.” Co-Authored with Kathleen Beres Rogers. Prose Studies. December 2011.
We argue that Martineau's disability, and the tools they forced her to use, allowed her to create a "cyborg" identity that gave her entran ce into and power over the primarily masculine world of scientific observation.
“Competition and Kindness: The Darwinian World of The Hunger Games.” The Hunger Games and Philosophy. Wiley. Forthcoming 2012.
The cooperation and kindness seen in The Hunger Games trilogy, I argue, are not at odds with the Darwinian ethos of the books, but rather an accurate rendition of how Darwin's ideas about group selection developed new takes on altruism.
Contact Information
Department of Language and Literature
Fore Hall
MSC MSC 162 Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Kingsville, Texas 78363-8202
voice: 361/593-3503
fax:
email: Abigail.Mann@tamuk.edu
Personal Website:
This page was last updated on: September 25, 2012