Name: Dr. Elaine Cannell
Title: Visiting Assistant Professor
Hometown: Elburn, Illinois
Educational/professional background: BA, Literature and Creative Writing, North Central College; MA, English Literature, Purdue University; PhD, Literary Studies, UW-Madison
What is your field of research, and how did you get into it? My research intersects social movement history with queer and feminist theory and performance studies. Basically, I am interested in historicizing the moments that theater and performance art have influenced social movement organizing in the United States (and vice versa), and in theorizing how embodied gestures from performance can offer models for activism. In some ways, I stumbled into these questions by accident. Starting in undergrad, I was drawn to queer and feminist performance art because it brought to life an internalized wish I had to embody the rage, desire, and hope I felt towards the world more vibrantly and viscerally. At the same time, I was attending protests for similar reasons and started to wonder about how others had thought the two entities together. Turns out, a lot of people had, and I quickly became one of them.
What attracted you to UW-Madison? The interdisciplinary faculty! I love being a part of a community filled with people interested in putting perspectives and methods from different fields together.
Favorite place on campus? The Wisconsin Historical Society library as a workspace, the Memorial Union Terrace as an ice cream space, and my office in Sterling Hall as a space for peace and quiet.
Do you feel your work relates in any way to the Wisconsin Idea? If so, please describe how. As a teacher and researcher, I am passionate about the places where ideas become mobile: between the street and the stage, between the past and the present, and between the classroom and the outside world. I like to think that all of my work subsequently resonates with the Wisconsin Idea, but when it comes to teaching in particular, nothing feels more important than when a student tells me they have found one of my classes transformative academically, personally, or professionally, even long after it ends.
Hobbies/other interests: Vintage and secondhand shopping, attending live music, hiking, and watching campy, soapy, and otherwise ridiculous television.