Stephanie Oliver, PhD

Associate Professor, Augustana - Fine Arts & Humanities

Contact

Associate Professor, Augustana - Fine Arts & Humanities
Email
ssoliver@ualberta.ca

Overview

About

Education

PhD, Western University

MA, Western University

BA (Honours), St. Francis Xavier University

Teaching 

I teach introductory courses in English and senior courses in Canadian, postcolonial, and diasporic literatures. My classes incorporate a variety of learning activities (workshops, collaborative exercises, reflection activities, free-writing, etc.). I also use staged writing assignments to provide students with feedback throughout the writing processIf you are interested in taking one of my classes, please don't hesitate to contact me. For more information on my teaching, see below.

Research 

My research focuses on questions of embodiment, identity, and power in relation to issues of race, gender, sexuality, and class. I am particularly interested in representations of the senses, concepts of relationality, and intersections of diaspora, indigeneity, and settler colonialism in Canada. My current research project focuses on the role of smell in Canadian diasporic women's writing. I am also interested in representations of resource extraction sites such as the Alberta tar sands. In addition to my disciplinary research, I participate in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL). For more information on my research, see below.



Research

Journal Articles

  •  “The Politics of Scattering Seeds: Cultivation and Diasporic Settlement.” (In revision)


Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL)



Teaching

Before coming to Augustana, I taught a variety of courses in English and Interdisciplinary Studies at Western University and Huron University College in London, Ontario. At Augustana, I have taught the following courses: 

  • AUENG 102: Critical Reading, Critical Writing
  • AUENG 298: Special Topics (Imaginary Homelands: Diasporic Literatures in English)
  • AUENG 281/381: Canadian Literature Since 1950

In 2018/19, I will be teaching the following courses:

  • AUENG 103: English Literature From the Romantic Period to the Present
  • AUENG 280/380: Canadian Literature To 1950
  • AUENG 460: Selected Topics: Consuming Difference: Food and Multiculturalism in Canadian Literature

Courses

AUENG 102 - Critical Reading, Critical Writing

English 102 has two objectives. The first is to train students in the practices of analytical reading and critical thinking. To that end, we will read engaging literary texts in several genres. The second objective is to help students develop effective communication skills, particularly their writing abilities. To develop writing techniques, we will workshop grammatical skills which will provide the necessary building blocks for university-level writing. Prerequisite: ELA 30-1 or AUENG 101.


AUENG 281 - Canadian Literature since 1950

Development of literature in English in Canada from the middle of the twentieth century to the present, an age that some have termed postmodernist. The course focuses on the rise and fall of realism in fiction and also the emergence of distinctively Canadian voices among our poets. Included are works by Laurence, Atwood, Wiebe, Munro, Davies, Birney, Page, Purdy, and Layton. Prerequisites: 3 units in English at the 100-level. Note: Not to be taken by students with credit in AUENG 381.


AUENG 382 - Postcolonial Literature and Theory

This course explores the key themes, debates and movements in post colonial literature and theory. Attending to the depth and diversity of postcolonial literatures written in or translated into English, we will read authors from a range of regions, perspectives, cultures and traditions. Topics will include (post)colonialism, imperialism, power, knowledge, subjectivity, language, race, sexuality, gender, representation, decolonization, diaspora and indigeneity. Prerequisites: AUENG 102.


AUIDS 101 - First Year Seminar

Selected topics that highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the Liberal Arts and Sciences. This seminar-style class is the first course in Augustana's Core. The focus and content of each course are determined by faculty interests, and vary from year to year.


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