Department of English

College of Arts, Languages & Letters
Kuykendall 402
1733 Donaghho Road
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-7619
Fax: (808) 956-3083
Email: enghi@hawaii.edu; see list of contacts on webpage
Web: english.hawaii.edu

Faculty

*J. Zuern, PhD (Chair)—life writing studies, contemporary fiction, narrative studies, comparative literature, digital literature
*S. Allen, PhD—classical rhetoric, rhetorical theory, composition theory, eco-rhetorical theory
*N. Chandra, PhD—Marxism, critical theory, popular culture, comparative modernisms (Asian film and literature), childhood studies, comics and graphic novels, South Asian literary and cultural
history
*R. W. Dasenbrock, PhD—modernism, literary theory, post-colonial literature, comparative literature
*D. Desser, PhD—rhetorical history, theory, and criticism; writing and difference; Jewish identity construction and negotiation; the Holocaust and life-writing; film and literature of the Holocaust;
writing pedagogy
*A. Feuerstein, PhD—Victorian studies, 18th and 19th century British literature and culture, cultural histories of British slavery and empire, Black studies, posthumanism, and animal studies
*C. Franklin, PhD—contemporary U.S. literatures, critical ethnic studies, life writing, disability studies, queer and feminist theory, genre studies, cultural studies, university politics, Palestine
*C. Fujikane, PhD—Hawaiʻi literatures; Asian American literature/ theory; Kanaka Maoli and critical settler cartographies; Indigenous knowledges and climate change; decolonial and abolitionist futures; critical ethnic studies
*J. Han, PhD—creative writing, novel writing, the short story collection, short form writing, hybrid & experimental forms, literatures of Hawaiʻi, Asian American literature, speculative fiction, surrealism, fiction-to-film adaptations, non-fiction
*D. Higginbotham, PhD—late medieval English literature; early modern literature; literary history; Shakespeare and his contemporaries; queer theories/gender studies/feminist theories; Marxism and economic criticism; queer African literatures
*K. Hoʻomanawanui, PhD—Native Hawaiian literature, literatures of Hawaiʻi, folklore and mythology, children’s literature, translation studies
*C. Howes, PhD—biography and life writing, 19th-century literature, literary theory, drama and performance, research methods, professional editing, Hawaiʻi literatures
*R. Hsu, PhD—modernism, ethnic literature, Asian American literature, feminist criticism
*K. Kahakauwila, MFA—creative writing and craft theory, fiction writing, creative nonfiction writing, journalism, travel writing, Oceanic/Pacific literature, contemporary Native American
literature
*L. Lyons, PhD—post-colonial literatures and theory, Irish literature, cultural studies
*H. Manshel, PhD—American literature pre-1900, law, Black studies and literatures, Indigenous studies and literatures, queer studies, decolonization, abolition
*G. Nordstrom, PhD—contemporary rhetorical theory, empirical research, indigenous rhetorics/pedagogy, place-based writing pedagogy, literacy and language as social justice, writing center studies, & collaboration
*D. Payne, PhD—composition and rhetoric, computer-mediated writing, collaborative learning
*N. Revilla, PhD—creative writing; spoken word; Indigenous and decolonial poetics; Native Hawaiian literature and theory; Pacific poetry and performance; feminist studies; queer theory; cultural studies
*T. Sammons, PhD—Renaissance and 17th-century English literature, Milton, early modern drama, science fiction, rhetoric, writing center pedagogy
*D. Seid, PhD—American film and television history; film theory; narrative studies; feminist and queer media studies; critical race and ethnic studies; Marxist cultural studies; Asian American literature and culture; transgender studies
*S. Shankar, PhD—postcolonial theory & literature, creative writing, critical caste studies, cultural journalism, literary theory & cultural studies, translation & translation studies, U.S. literature of
immigration
*J. Taylor, PhD—African American literature, visual culture, critical theory
*I. Wang, PhD—Indigenous rhetorics; writing center & writing program administration; empirical methods & methodologies in composition; AI writing; decolonial pedagogies; rhetorics of love
*E. West, PhD—18th-century literature, material culture and textual materiality, gender and sexuality studies, embodiment, history of science, children’s literature and childhood, animal studies

* Graduate Faculty

The Academic Program

The Department of English encourages students to develop their critical reading, writing, and creative skills through study of a variety of literatures in English, composition and rhetoric, and creative writing. The department recognizes the unique diversity of cultures in Hawai’i and employs a variety of approaches, including multicultural and Asia Pacific perspectives, to address this uniqueness. Students work directly with faculty in relatively small classes. The department participates actively in UH Mānoa’s Honors Program and its Study Abroad Semester and offers professional internships for interested students in the senior year

The goals of the undergraduate English program are: (a) to offer a comprehensive range of courses in literary and cultural studies, composition, rhetoric, and creative writing; (b) to develop students’ critical thinking and reading skills; and (c) to develop students’ interests and abilities in rhetoric and writing across a variety of genres. Many of our courses recognize Hawai’i’s geographical and cultural location in the Pacific.

The graduate program enriches students’ knowledge of literature, composition and rhetoric, creative writing, and cultural studies. MA students are asked to take approximately half of their course work in a specific concentration so that they begin to develop an area of expertise while broadening their understanding of other areas of study. The MA thesis or final project at the end of the program gives them the opportunity to do extended research and writing on a topic of their own choosing.

The doctoral program prepares students to become professionals in the field. Required courses are not its focus; rather, it offers students considerable latitude in course selection and requires disciplined, independent work on examinations and the dissertation. Candidates completing the program should have the skills and experience to function as critics, scholars, and writers in an area associated with the profession of English.

Undergraduate Study

Please see “Programs” section below for more information about our undergraduate programs.

Graduate Study

The department offers the MA in English with four concentrations: Literary Studies in English, Composition and Rhetoric, Creative Writing, and Cultural Studies in Asia/ Pacific. It offers the PhD in these and other areas because the doctoral program is sufficiently flexible to allow students to develop individualized courses of study. Students applying for the MA are expected to have a bachelor’s degree in English or a closely related field. PhD applicants normally will have completed the MA in English. All applicants must submit an application, transcripts, three letters of recommendation, a comprehensive statement of professional goals and objectives, and a critical writing sample. Also, applicants interested in the Creative Writing concentration must also submit a creative writing sample. Application deadlines are December 1 for the PhD program and January 1 for the MA program. Complete information on the application process is provided on the department’s website.

Courses for the MA and PhD are to be selected from the list of English (ENG) courses, although advanced courses in other disciplines may be substituted with the prior approval of the graduate director.

Programs

• English, BA

• English, MA

• English, PhD

• English, Minor