Samantha Seto

PhD in Comparative Literature

  • School of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures

Contact details

Biography

Background

Samantha is pursuing a PhD in Comparative Literature in the School of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh.

Samantha graduated with a Master of Theological Studies, which included a Christian-Jewish Studies concentration, from Princeton Theological Seminary. Samantha is a recipient of the Frederick Buechner Prize for Excellence in Writing, an award that honours the legacy of the author and theologian Frederick Buechner. The writing prize is awarded to a student to recognize outstanding theological, religious, or creative nonfiction. Samantha also learned the ancient languages, Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Greek. She was a member of the Chapel Fellowship programme at the Princeton University Chapel. Samantha was appointed as a Research Assistant for a professor's scholarship in medieval literature in the Department of History at Princeton University. Samantha also served as a Reviewer for the 'Melange Journal: A Journal of Prose Poetry and the Arts,' a literary journal published by graduate students at Princeton University. 

Samantha graduated with a Master of Arts in History and Literature from Columbia University (with enrollment in classes at the École normale supérieure and the Université Paris IV-Sorbonne). Her master's thesis was supervised by a professor at the École normale supérieure. Samantha gathered resources from the university library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Writing Seminars (Honours) and a minor certificate in the History of Art from Johns Hopkins University. 

Samantha has professional experience working as an intern for a congressional office at the United States House of Representatives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., an intern in the Department of Global Communications at the United Nations, and an intern in the Law Library at the Library of Congress. Samantha served as a Junior Dean for the Oxford Royale Academy at Yale University during the summer term, worked as a Teaching Assistant for the Duke University Talent Identification Programme (Duke TIP), and was an Academic Tutor for an International Relations summer class at Gonville and Caius College and Queens' College at the University of Cambridge. She was a Reader for the 2022 Orwell Youth Prize. Samantha was an assistant for King's Culture in the Somerset House at King's College London. She has worked at reading events hosted at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Samantha has also worked in the libraries at the Princeton Theological Seminary and the University of Notre Dame. She has served as a Nursery Assistant at the Washington National Cathedral and the American Church in Paris.

Qualifications

Master of Theological Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary (2024-2026)

Master of Arts in History and Literature from Columbia University (2019-2020)

  • Columbia Global Center in Paris, École normale supérieure, Université Paris IV-Sorbonne

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Writing Seminars, Minor Certificate: History of Art from Johns Hopkins University (2015-2017)

Research summary

In twentieth-century American and French novels, I analyze:

  • transatlantic migration
  • cultural exchange
  • transnationalism
  • cosmopolitan milieux

Current research interests

My research will examine transatlantic migration, cultural exchange, transnationalism, and cosmopolitan milieux in nineteenth-century and twentieth-century American and French novels. My research draws on transatlantic literary studies and ethnography to examine the novel. 

Project activity

I visited the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University to examine a novelist's collection for my research. My archival research was generously awarded a grant.

Conference details

  • Postgraduate Conference, Society for French Studies, King’s College London, 2023
  • American Literature Association Conference, 2022
  • British Association of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, Fifth Biennial Symposium, King’s College London, 2022
  • British Association for American Studies Conference, 2022
  • Oxford French Graduate Seminar, University of Oxford, 2021
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