Nicole Aljoe

1.  How did you become interested in eighteenth-century studies in particular?
I’d been fascinated by the few representations of 18th century Caribbean culture that I’d come into contact with growing up: such as the rumors about the “White Witch of Rose Hall” in Jamaica; the ruins of great houses throughout the island, a section of Michele Cliff’s novel, Abeng. But, my scholarly interest was piqued during a graduate class on the British 18th century taught by Philip Baruth at the University of Vermont. I was surprised to see so many references to the Caribbean and slavery in texts that I’d read before like “Moll Flanders” and “Robinson Crusoe” and thought I’d known. And of course, began to see the connections elsewhere, in texts seemingly outside of the Caribbean colonial context, like “Pamela.” I’m drawn to thinking about how our understanding of 18th century aesthetic culture changes, when we put the Caribbean and slavery at the centers of our lines of inquiry, rather than an ‘inconvenient’ aspect.
2.  What are you working on right now?
Right now I’m finishing up a project that explores connections between 18th century narratives of slavery and the early novel in England and Europe. Conversations about relationships between the novel and the slave narrative in the US, tend to distinguish the two or advocate for a progressive framework, in which the apex of the slave narrative genre appropriates elements from the novel. My studies, which join traditional literary analysis with digital tools, suggests that the relationship is more complex and nuanced, particularly when you focus on the early period.
3.  How do you approach or incorporate gender or women's studies in your work? 
In addition to focusing on representations of women in my work,  I also try to undertake the work itself from a feminist, inclusive, anti-racist perspective. This means trying to be as open-minded about my object of study, rather than trying to make it fit into a pre-established framework. I also try not to rely only on ‘canonical’ work, but am open to considering a broader array of disciplinary work.
4. What is one book or article that you are reading now that gets your creative and/or analytic side going? Why? (eighteenth-century studies, scholarship, anything)
​Christina Sharpe’s *In the Wake* Beautifully written, useful and trenchant analysis of the continuing impacts of the colonial slavery.
5. What more can we do to support women in academia? In ASECS?
​Recognize the real and sustained academic labor that women engage in, and then effectively value and reward that labor.

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