Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies

Forms of Submission: Writing for Aid and Opportunity in America

In Forms of Submission: Writing for Aid and Opportunity in America I theorize functional forms of life writing that manage access to financial support, employment, and education. Over six case studies and 125 years I investigate the changing uses of biographic disclosure to justify, trouble, and revise the terms of support and inclusion. From the cover letter to standardized forms, recommendation letters and personal essays, the book asks how biographic mediation came to structure public access to institutional resources? And how have applicants challenged institutions in the same medium to give a better account of who gets what and why?