Society of Scholars

scholars discussing a topic around the main Simpson Center conference room table

The Society of Scholars is an intellectual community of humanists of diverse generations, academic ranks, and departmental affiliations who contribute to and learn from one another’s work. Each year, approximately eight faculty and three dissertation research fellowships support members of the Society of Scholars. Scholars in year-long residence at the University of Washington may be invited to participate as well. The group meets biweekly throughout the year to discuss their research in progress. 

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Cohort Archives

2024 - 2025 Society of Scholars

Oya Rose Aktaş
Doctoral Candidate
History
Danya Al-Saleh
Assistant Professor
Jackson School of International Studies
M. Aziz
Assistant Professor
American Ethnic Studies
Jennifer Baez
Assistant Professor
Art History / School of Art + Art History + Design
Jacob Beckert
Doctoral Candidate
Department of History
Bianca Dang
Assistant Professor
History
Diana Flores Ruíz
Assistant Professor
Cinema & Media Studies
Ungsan Kim
Assistant Professor
Asian Languages and Culture
Josh Reid
Associate Professor
American Indian Studies
Randa Tawil
Assistant Professor
CHCI-ACLS Visiting Fellow
Kyle J. Trembley
Doctoral Candidate
Anthropology
JohnMorgan Baker
Doctoral Candidate
English
Andreas P. Bassett stands in front of a large shrubbery while wearing a dark jacket blue shirt and tie.
Doctoral Candidate
English
Anne Duncan
Doctoral Candidate
English
Kathleen Escarcha
Doctoral Candidate
English
medium close-up of Yandong. He is on the left of the frame in a black t-shirt looking at the camera. To the right is a light flare form the setting sun, while the background shows buildings and a park.
Doctoral Candidate
Cinema & Media Studies
Eric Villiers
Doctoral Candidate
School of Drama

2023 - 2024 Society of Scholars Fellow

Close-up portrait of a white woman with pink and brown hair and blue eyes wearing a blue shirt

Alexandra Meany (she/her/hers)

Doctoral Candidate

Post-war U.S. Urban Literatures and Geographies of Violence

Alexandra Meany’s research examines discursive responses to Indigenous land dispossession and racial enclosure in U.S. cities during the long period of urban renewal from the 1940s through the 1980s. Bridging Urban Geography and Literary Studies, her dissertation showcases how various novels historicize struggle over space in ways not readily discerned by social scientists or historians of the city and thus might contribute pivotally to the activist work of building a politically radical spatial imaginary. Overall, she demonstrates how certain urban novels throw into relief the spatial expressions of racial capitalism’s expansion and offer insight on how to stop it.