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| LSU Ph.D. candidate Erica Abrams Locklear has been selected as an American Dissertation Fellow for the 2007-08 year by the American Association of University Women, or AAUW, Educational Foundation Board of Directors. The American Dissertation Fellowship carries a stipend of $20,000. Locklear, a native of North Carolina, will use the funds to allow herself to focus on finishing her dissertation, sending out book proposals and entering the job market. AAUW awards fellowships to support women doctoral candidates completing dissertations or scholars seeking funds for postdoctoral research leave from accredited institutions. This year, they reviewed 501 applications – 390 for dissertation fellowships – from a total submitted pool of 1,036 applications. Of the 501 applicants reviewed, 88 fellows were selected – 63 for dissertation fellowships – for funding support. Locklear’s dissertation, “The Perils and Empowerments of Mountain Literacies: Reading Loss and Shifting Identities in Appalachian Memoirs and Novels,” considers the literary portrayal of literacy events in memoirs and novels written by Appalachian women during the 20th and 21st centuries. Drawing from contemporary literacy scholarship, the project engages several definitions of the term “literacy,” including theories that define it as a technical skill, a social act, cultural knowledge or a potent form of ideological power. Locklear argues that in a region historically – and often inaccurately – stigmatized as illiterate, “literacy” is a loaded term, a concept doubly associated with cultural pride and with cultural loss. “By applying literacy theories to Appalachian literature, I analyze the identity conflicts literacy attainment causes for these female Appalachian authors and characters,” she said. “I pay special attention to scenes in which literacy acquisition (whether technical, social or cultural) causes characters to become aware that their way of speaking, acting and thinking is at odds with that of mainstream society. “In doing so, I discuss the resulting dilemmas authors and characters have regarding their discourse community affiliation, and I argue that such literary exploration adds to, and even revises, contemporary literacy theories. In particular, such analysis reveals that many Appalachian characters actively resist mainstream societal entrance, and these literary refusals reflect Appalachian authors’ preoccupation with historical stereotypes associating illiteracy with Appalachia.” Locklear is the daughter of Bert and Darlene Abrams of Leicester, N.C. She graduated from Erwin High School in 1996, received a bachelor’s degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000 and a master’s degree from Utah State University in 2002. -30- |
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