University of Edinburgh

Graduate Student, English Literature

PhD Candidate; Postgraduate Teaching Assistant

Thesis Title: 'The Figure of Lilith and the Feminine Demonic in Early Modern Literature

About

Biography:
            Stephanie finished her B.A. In English Literature and the University of California in Irvine in 2006, writing her undergraduate thesis on gender and censorship in Milton's Paradise Lost. She began her PhD at Edinburgh the following autumn, and was awarded the Centre for Renaissance Studies Research Grant (2009).  She teaches first-year English Literature, and has been a reviewer and Reader for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in Fiction (2010), Biography (2011) and has reviewed for the Forum Postgraduate Journal (2011).  She also works as an apprentice antiquarian bookdealer.

Research Interests:
            Stephanie's dissertation chronicled the history of European occult philosophy, focusing on Hermeticism and demonology, in order to create a theory of gender within English seventeenth century demonological studies.

Her current research looks at the semiotic translation of near eastern ideas, religion, mythology, and philosophy (including Islam) into western Europe, and how this has affected Christian identities.

Her other research interests include anarchism, feminist and queer theory, monstrosity, intersectionality, and teaching methods.



Publications:
    -“Intermediate Beings in Occult Thought”. The Occult World (Routledge Worlds Series). Ed. Christopher Partridge. Routledge, 2014 (Forthcoming).
    -“Sex Magic and Mind/Body Dualism in Early Modern Occultism”. Reclaiming the Soul: Thinking Beyond the Body in Renaissance England. Ed. Sarah Johnson, et al. Ashgate, 2013 (Forthcoming).
    -“John Dee’s Conversations with Spirits and Problems in Elizabethan Practical Occultism”. Daimonic Imagination: Uncanny Intelligence. Ed. Angela Voss, et al. Cambridge Scholar Press, 2012 (Forthcoming).
    -Review: “Making Feminist Politics: Transnational Alliances between Women and Labor by Suzanne Franzway and Mary Margaret Fonow”. Labor History. 2012 (Forthcoming).
    -Review: “On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma”. Monsters and the Monstrous. 2012. (Forthcoming).
    -“Jacobean Witchcraft and Feminine Power”. Pacific Coast Philology. 45 (2010): 53-70.
    -“A Brief Look at Black Metal as a Continuation of Occult Traditions”. Blog Entry. Orphic Hymns/Esoteriic, 2009.


Conferences:
    -“Sexual Monstrosity and Demonic Femininity in Early Modern Book Illustrations”. Paper to be presented at Modern Language Association Annual Conference. Boston. 5-8 January 2013.
    -“Lilith, Witchcraft, and the Feminine Demonic in Early Modern Europe”. Paper to be presented at Capturing Witches: Histories, Stories, Images. 400 years after the Lancashire Witches. Lancaster University. 17-19 August 2012.
    -“Feminism and Class: Confronting Privilege in a Place of Privilege”. Paper presented at 8th European Feminist Research Conference. Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. 17-20 May 2012.
    -“Moving Forward, Looking Back: Teaching Feminism within Early Modern Studies”. Paper presented at Researching Feminist Futures Conference. Edinburgh University. 3 September 2011.
    -“John Dee's Conversations with Spirits and Problems in Elizabethan Practical Occultism”. Paper presented at Daimonic Imagination: Uncanny Intelligence. Kent University, Canterbury. 6-7 May 2011.
    -“Simon Forman, John Dee and Asceticism versus Eroticism in Elizabethan Occultism”. Paper presented at Postgraduate Works In Progress Seminar. Edinburgh University. 20 April 2011.
    -“Structure and Stricture of the Catholic Church in Milton’s Paradise Lost”. Early Modern Studies in Scotland Postgraduate Symposium, University of Aberdeen: Aberdeen, Scotland. 16 Feb 2008.
    -“The Kabbalah in Early Modern Christian Scholarship”. Renaissance and Early Modern Studies Seminar, University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh, Scotland. 1 Feb 2008.
    -“Witchcraft and Feminine Power in Early Modern Europe”. Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Conference, Western Washington University: Bellingham, Washington. 2 Nov 2007.
    -“’Venial Discourse Unblamed’: Knowledge and Censorship in Milton’s Paradise Lost”. Presented at the UROP Undergraduate Symposium, University of California Irvine: Irvine, California. 14 May 2005.

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