Mariane Gallet
Thesis title: 'Art for People's Sake': A Genealogy of Poetics of Resistance to Logics and Architectures of Institutional Racism
PhD supervisors:
Background
Mariane's research focuses on the intersection of antiracist, environmental and social justice activism in modern and contemporary African American Literature and social movement activism. Mariane’s research featured in academic research showcases, international conferences, and in her contribution to the online exhibition featured in The Guardian, ‘Crossed-Lines’ (2020). Most recently, she completed a visiting scholarship at the Centre for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA) at Brown University supervised by Professor Andre C. Willis (Oct-Nov 2024).
Qualifications
PhD in English Literature, The University of Edinburgh (2022-2025)
Provisional thesis title: 'Art for People's Sake': A Genealogy of Poetics of Resistance to Logics and Architectures of Institutional Racism. Supervised by Dr Keith Hughes and Dr Andrew Taylor.
Master in Modern American Literature, The University of Glasgow (2021-2022)
MLitt dissertation examining the legacies of the insitution of slavery in contemporary American institutional policies, and artistic responses across different media. Supervised by Dr Chris Gair.
MAHons in Literature and English Language, The University of Edinburgh (2016-2020)
Master of Arts with Honours, Undergraduate dissertation examining the construction of personal and national identity in the contemporary U.S., in the wake of the nation's past of genocide and enslavement.
Undergraduate teaching
Mariane teaches English Literature, and French Literature and Civilisation to Undergraduate students at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, The University of Edinburgh, 2023-present.
Academic year 2023-2024
Semester 1
- Literary Studies 1A
- French 1B Literature and Civilisation
Semester 2
- Literary Studies 2B: English Literature and the World, post 1789
- French 1B Literature and Civilisation
The University of Edinburgh 2024-2025
Semester 1: Visiting Scholar, Brown University - The Centre for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America.
Semester 2
- Literary Studies 2B: English Literature and the World, post 1789
- French 2 Literature
Postgraduate teaching
Guest led seminar discussions at postgraduate level in American Literature.
Research summary
Mariane's research focuses on the construction of personal and national identities, and citizenship in the United States, examining responses to the U.S.’s treatment of memory and history in modern and contemporary African American Literature to contextualise artistic production in the era of Black Lives Matter. Her PhD project is situated at the intersection of Literary Studies, and Social and Political Sciences. Her thesis examines pervading legacies of the institution of slavery in contemporary America, understanding the present realities both of American racial theopolitics and dying environmental ecologies in resonance with neo-slavery, colonial capitalism, and systemic violence.
Knowledge exchange
Academic research, fellowship:
Oct-Nov 2024: Visiting Scholar, Brown University (RI, USA). Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA), dir. Prof. Prudence Carter (sociologist). Supervised by Prof. Andre C. Willis, department of Religious Studies. Attended Religion and Critical Thought course.
Project activity
Scottish Association for the Study of America 2025 Conference co-organiser, The University of Edinburgh (March 2025)
Writer, blog contributor for the 2024 Gifford Lecture Series, Professor Cornel West. 'A Jazz-soaked Philosophy for our Catastrophic Times: from Socrates to Coltrane.' The University of Edinburgh. https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/gifford-lectures/2024/05/07/cornel-west-lecture-1-philosophic-prelude/
Treasurer, The Scottish Association for the Study of America (2024-)
Assistant editor at peer-reviewed journal FORUM (2024-)
James Tait Black Prize reader, fiction (2024)
Work in Progress Seminar co-organiser, School of LLC, The University of Edinburgh (2023-)
Co-founder of the American Studies reading group at the Andrew Hook Research Centre, The University of Glasgow (2020-2021)
Past project grants
March 2025 British Association for American Studies Development Fund. For the Scottish Association for the Study of America 2025 Annual Conference (£900)
May 2024 European Association for American Studies Transatlantic Grant. Grant for research residency at Brown University (Providence, RI USA) in Oct-Nov 2024, the Centre for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (1300€)
Feb 2024 The University of Edinburgh Student Experience Grant for LLC WIP Seminar Series (£250)
Nov 2023 ASA Annette K. Baxter Grant (2023), American Studies Association Baxter Travel Grant ($400)
2020-2021 Gordon Studentship, the Andrew Hook Research Centre for American Studies, The University of Glasgow (£700)
Organiser
Scottish Association for the Study of America 2025 Conference co-organiser, The University of Edinburgh (March 2025)
Co-organiser of the Work in Progress Seminar Series (2023-2024), The Unversity of Edinburgh
Papers delivered
Nov 2024: ASA Annual Meeting. ‘Parables of Democracy: Octavia Butler and Necropolitics, an eco-ethic of narrative grounded engagements.’ American Studies Association 2024 Annual Meeting ‘Grounded Engagements in American Studies.’ Panel ‘Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Salvation.’ Baltimore, MD USA.
Oct 2024: CAAS Annual Conference. ‘Parables of Democracy: Octavia Butler and Necropolitics.’ The Canadian Association of American Studies Annual Conference 2024 ‘On Bothering,’ The University of Concordia (Montreal, QC Canada).
May 2024: IASH Conference. ‘Feminist Utopias: Narrative Eco-Ethics for Surviving Dystopian Realities in Octavia Butler’s Parable Series.’ Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities Conference 2024, The University of Edinburgh ‘Rethinking the Ecological Imaginary: Decolonial Ecologies and Black Feminism.’ Paper pending publication.
Jan 2024: SASA Annual Conference. ‘Parables of Democracy: Necropolitics of the American Writer.’ Scottish Association for the Study of America Annual Conference 2024, The University of Stirling (Scotland UK).
Nov 2023: ASA Annual Meeting. ‘Your Feminism Will Not Protect You: Love, Morbidity, Misogyny in Zora Neale Hurston Short Stories’. American Studies Association 2023 Annual Meeting ‘Solidarity: What Love Looks Like in Public.’ Panel ‘Feminism at its Limits: Race, Nation, Liberalism, High Theory.’ Montreal, QC Canada.
Apr 2023: IAAS Annual Conference. ‘“no woman beareth the axe in Babylon”: Questioning the Inherent Errantry and (In)Security of Black Feminism in the Harlem of the Great Migration, A study of recovered Zora Neale Hurston short stories”. Irish Association for American Studies’ 2023 Annual Conference ‘In/Security,’ The University of Limerick (Ireland, UK).
March 2021: SASA Annual Conference. ‘Selfhood and Poetics of Racial Trauma: Claudia Rankine and Lyrical Hybridity’. Scottish Association for the Study of America Annual Conference 2021 (online).
Other academic presentations:
Mar 2024: LLC Work in Progress Seminar Spring Series. ‘Parables of Democracy: Octavia Butler’s narrative eco-ethics and American dystopian theopolitics in the Parable series.’ The University of Edinburgh.
Jan 2024: UCLA Thinking Gender 2024. Work in Progress Seminar. ‘Dystopian Realities, Feminist Utopias,’ the UCLA Centre for the Study of Women, Barbara Streisand Centre.
May 2022: Gender.ED Annual Research Showcase. ‘Art for People’s Sake’: A Genealogy of Poetics of Resistance to Logics and Architectures of Institutional Racism.’ The University of Edinburgh, Gender.ED Research Network Annual Research Showcase.