Featured Research

Publication | Nothing Pure: a new book Q&A with Dr. Mo Pareles

Publication | Nothing Pure: a new book Q&A with Dr. Mo Pareles

Congratulations to Dr. Mo Pareles on their new monograph, Nothing Pure: Jewish Law, Christian Supersession, and Bible Translation in Old English. Read this Q&A with University of Toronto Press to learn more about their work.

Dr. Mary Chapman and Sydney Lines | How Hollywood’s First Asian Screenwriter, Winnifred Eaton, Challenged its Racism

Dr. Mary Chapman and Sydney Lines | How Hollywood’s First Asian Screenwriter, Winnifred Eaton, Challenged its Racism

A century before Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress, Winnifred Eaton, the daughter of a Chinese mother and a white English father, was working behind the scenes in Hollywood. Read this piece by Dr. Mary Chapman and PhD Candidate Sydney Lines, published in The Conversation.

Professor Emerita Eva-Marie Kröller Awarded 2023-2024 Harry Ransom Center Fellowship

Professor Emerita Eva-Marie Kröller Awarded 2023-2024 Harry Ransom Center Fellowship

Congratulations to Professor Emerita Eva-Marie Kröller on winning a 2023-2024 Harry Ransom Center Fellowship! The Ransom Center Fellowship Program supports onsite use of the Ransom Center collections, which spans literature, performing arts, film, photography, and art. Dr. Kröller will pursue a project entitled “Thomas B. Costain: A Canadian-American Career in Publishing and Authorship.” Learn more in this announcement from the Ransom Centre.

“You betcha I’m a ’Merican”: The rise of YOU BET as a pragmatic marker | A Q&A with Dr. Laurel Brinton and PhD Candidate Tomoharu Hirota

“You betcha I’m a ’Merican”: The rise of YOU BET as a pragmatic marker | A Q&A with Dr. Laurel Brinton and PhD Candidate Tomoharu Hirota

In a new study, Dr. Laurel Brinton and PhD candidate Tomoharu Hirota explore parenthetical and free-standing you bet (you) and you bet your X and their present-day usage and historical development. In this UBC Language Sciences Q&A, Brinton and Hirota explain how pragmatic markers are used, historical uses of YOU BET, and the differences in usage of YOU BET in spoken American English, as compared to usage in television and movies.

Prof. James Stratton: The Role of Historical Linguistics in the Second Language Classroom

Prof. James Stratton: The Role of Historical Linguistics in the Second Language Classroom

When it comes to picking up a language related to one you already know, learning a bit about its history can help speed up the process. “The results, in my mind, are quite groundbreaking. It shows that knowledge of historical linguistics can have a practical function in society,” says Language faculty Dr. James Stratton.

UBC Library digitizes William Shakespeare’s First Folio

UBC Library digitizes William Shakespeare’s First Folio

UBC Library has made its first edition of William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies openly accessible to the public by publishing a digitized version of the volume online through Open Collections.

Department of English Language & Literatures 2022 SSHRC Grant Winners

Department of English Language & Literatures 2022 SSHRC Grant Winners

Congratulations to Drs. Alexander Dick, Mary Chapman, Stefan Dollinger, Christine Kim, Elise Stickles, Dallas Hunt, Kevin McNeilly, and Phanuel Antwi on winning various 2022 SSHRC Grants!

On image left, Dr. James Stratton smiles at the camera, he wears a white shirt with a dark red tie and black suit jacket. On the right, Dr. Logan Smilges looks into the camera. They have a small hoop earring on their right ear, and wears a rosé coloured corduroy shirt with a bow around the neck.

UBC Department of English Language & Literatures Welcomes Drs. Logan Smilges and James Stratton

Dr. Logan Smilges (they/them/theirs) specializes in queer/trans disability studies, rhetorical studies, and the history of medicine. Dr. James Stratton (he/him/his) works on variationist sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, and second language acquisition.

Dr. Phanuel Antwi named New Canada Research Chair in Black Arts and Epistemologies

Dr. Phanuel Antwi named New Canada Research Chair in Black Arts and Epistemologies

The Pacific shore is a place that Black people call home and where Black knowledge abounds. Dr. Phanuel Antwi examines Blackness in relation with Asianness and Indigeneity, and their shared Pacific knowledges.

Covers for book-length texts highlighted in this editorial. Top row from left: Bla_k: Essays and Interviews (NourbeSe Philip), Mules and Men (Zora Neale Hurston), Necropolitics (Achille Mbembe), White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue…and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation (Lauren Michele Jackson), Zong! (NourbeSe Philip). Bottom row from left: She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks (NourbeSe Philip), Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston), Sensual Excess: Queer Femininity and Brown Jouissance (Amber Jamilla Musser), On the Postcolony (Achille Mbembe), Sensational Flesh: Race, Power, and Masochism (Amber Jamilla Musser).

Black Writers and Critics You Should Know About, According to EL&L Grad Students

The canon of English literature and ensuing literary criticism hasn’t always welcomed diverse voices, especially those of Black and brown women. Graduate students in the Department of English Language & Literatures highlight the Black writers and critics whose work are critical in shaping their own.