Lori Martindale, Ph.D.

About

Dr. Lori Martindale (she/her) studied Literature, Poetry, Critical Theory, and Media/ Arts as a student. Lori’s interests, teaching experience, and research are in Gender Studies; World Literature; Critical Theory and Philosophy; Writing about Literature; Film Studies; Composition and Creative Writing.

Lori enjoys teaching the first-year Honors sequence and has taught upper-division senior seminars titled Honors 350: Magical Realism, a study of magical realism in World Literature, Art, and Film (winter 2018; 2020; 2022). Lori also taught Honors 350: The Crone, The Witch, the Hag (fall 2020) on the figure of the Witch through world literature, folklore, historic print texts, art, mythology, fairy tales, and texts on the witch hunts. She taught Honors 350: Specters, Ghosts, and Hauntings on the liminal figure of the ghost and literary hauntings (ghost stories) this past fall quarter, and this upcoming fall, Lori is teaching Honors 350: Magical Realism.

Lori studied Literature for her undergraduate and Masters degrees, and then went on to study Media Studies, Literature, and theory. Lori earned a Ph.D. in Media and Communications with interdisciplinary concentrations in Literature, Poetry Studies, Critical Theory, and Film Studies at The European Graduate School in Switzerland/Malta. After her doctoral completion she was likewise a post-doctoral research fellow in Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought again overseas. While doing residency in Switzerland, she enjoyed walking around where Frankenstein was conceived. As a Ph.D. student, Lori was awarded an assistantship in the graduate level Poetry and Philosophy seminar. In addition, she was awarded an honorary certificate in an intensive international doctoral research seminar for her essays on Poetry and Theory at The University of Bristol, England, in the Classical Humanities. Lori also holds an M.A. in English Literature from WWU and studied postcolonial theory and literature in Trinidad. While working on her Masters in English, she was awarded a full

teaching assistantship to teach Writing classes to first-year students. She has also taught Writing about Literature and a wide range of writing and literature classes, such as World Literature.

In addition to teaching the first-year Honors sequence and upper-division seminars, Lori advises some Senior capstone projects and will be teaching Honors 390 this Spring, 2024. Lori enjoys teaching in the Honors program, as well as a variety of Gender Studies classes at Western.

When she is not teaching, she enjoys being outdoors - hiking, kayaking, listening to music, reading, and writing.