Document
Jessica Masters
Election
Position
Name
Jessica Masters
Candidate statement
PhD candidate (English) and teaching assistant
University of Sydney, Australia
I am a current PhD candidate (English) at the University of Sydney. My dissertation investigates intermedial literary modernism, with particular interests in Black Studies, plastic and visual arts, and queer studies.
I am cognizant of what it means to work in transatlantic modernist studies while based in Australia. While I regularly visit the US for work, I have an international perspective and established global scholarly networks. I am the Graduate Convenor for the University of Sydney’s Novel Network (affiliated with Duke University), where I manage graduate events with international visiting scholars. My own networks stretch across the US via the MSA, the Space Between, and Harvard University’s Institute for World Literature, and more locally, the Australian Modernist Studies Network, and the Australia-New Zealand Association of American Studies. As the co-editor of the Book Reviews section of The Space Between journal, I have brought these worlds slightly closer together by building working relationships with US- and UK-based scholars and publishing houses, so extending the society’s reach to Australasia and Europe.
I hope to extend MSA’s networks to a greater diversity of graduate students and early career scholars, not only through disciplinary intersections (particularly Black and queer studies, and plastic arts), but by increasing accessibility for scholars based outside the US, scholars of color, and those experiencing disadvantage or disability. I’d like to facilitate opportunities between MSA and other organizations through shared conference panels and working group ‘hubs’. I have a particular interest in facilitating special sessions geared to graduate issues and professional development, and would like to suggest a more formal relationship of the Association and Modernism/modernity geared to publication opportunities for graduate students, with, for example, a publishing mentorship offered by more senior scholars.
I am well-organized and highly motivated not only to maintain but also to extend the excellent structures set up by past graduate representatives, Zoë Henry and Annie Strauss.
University of Sydney, Australia
I am a current PhD candidate (English) at the University of Sydney. My dissertation investigates intermedial literary modernism, with particular interests in Black Studies, plastic and visual arts, and queer studies.
I am cognizant of what it means to work in transatlantic modernist studies while based in Australia. While I regularly visit the US for work, I have an international perspective and established global scholarly networks. I am the Graduate Convenor for the University of Sydney’s Novel Network (affiliated with Duke University), where I manage graduate events with international visiting scholars. My own networks stretch across the US via the MSA, the Space Between, and Harvard University’s Institute for World Literature, and more locally, the Australian Modernist Studies Network, and the Australia-New Zealand Association of American Studies. As the co-editor of the Book Reviews section of The Space Between journal, I have brought these worlds slightly closer together by building working relationships with US- and UK-based scholars and publishing houses, so extending the society’s reach to Australasia and Europe.
I hope to extend MSA’s networks to a greater diversity of graduate students and early career scholars, not only through disciplinary intersections (particularly Black and queer studies, and plastic arts), but by increasing accessibility for scholars based outside the US, scholars of color, and those experiencing disadvantage or disability. I’d like to facilitate opportunities between MSA and other organizations through shared conference panels and working group ‘hubs’. I have a particular interest in facilitating special sessions geared to graduate issues and professional development, and would like to suggest a more formal relationship of the Association and Modernism/modernity geared to publication opportunities for graduate students, with, for example, a publishing mentorship offered by more senior scholars.
I am well-organized and highly motivated not only to maintain but also to extend the excellent structures set up by past graduate representatives, Zoë Henry and Annie Strauss.
Candidate CV