Two doctoral students at the U of A — Skye Oliver, who is pursuing a doctorate in English, and Jean-Hugues Bita'a Menye, who is pursuing a doctorate in comparative literature and cultural studies — won the Graduate School and International Education's 2023-24 James J. Hudson Doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities.

The award is given to department-nominated graduate students in comparative literature and cultural studies, English, history or philosophy, who have only their dissertation left to write and defend and plan to graduate in the coming year. The award was established in 1986 in memory of James J. Hudson, a long-time professor of history and former dean of the U of A Graduate School. Oliver and Bita'a Menye will each receive a $1,500 monetary prize for winning the fellowship.

Oliver's dissertation, titled Desire Lines: reading queerly through the forest of medieval love literature, explores how the themes of desire and nature are expressed in medieval literature.

"Raised in a close-knit community nestled in the forested foothills of the Appalachians, I grew up experiencing the closeness of the natural world and its entanglement with human notions of love, desire and identity," she said.

After discovering medieval literature as a field of study as an undergraduate student, Oliver continued her passion for the era as a children's librarian known for her special knowledge of the medieval period in England. Translating medieval verse romance during her lunch breaks led her back to academia, where she uncovered a thriving and supportive community of medievalists at the U of A.

"I initially set out to finish my translation of King of Tars but soon became intensely interested in applying feminist and queer theory to medieval romances that often developed in France and travelled to England during the High Middle Ages," she said. "I kept coming back to scenes in the forests of these love narratives and haven't looked back. My goal in writing this dissertation is to produce queer readings of medieval texts that are playful, troubling and above all, appealing to a modern audience that is curious about a cultural history of love and desire."

Jean-Hugues Bita'a Menye and his daughter, Henriette.

Bita'a Menye's dissertation, titled Exposing the Brutalism of Neoliberalism: A Global South Reading of Noir, explores how the crime noir genre deconstructs notions of democracy, human rights and freedom, and efforts to put such concepts into practice in non-Western countries are stymied by histories of state-sponsored violence and terror.

A native of Cameroon, Bita'a Menye previously taught as a secondary school teacher, fostering a passion for literature in his students the same way his parents instilled a love of literature in him. He enrolled in the Ph.D. program in comparative literature with help from his brother who works in Fort Smith.

"I chose to pursue a dissertation on crime fiction and the Global South because I think it is important for non-Western cultures to face their past and appropriate their cultural multiplicity, to empower themselves and become independent," Bita'a Menye said. "This award is the fruit of years of sacrifice and dedication. It does not just reward my research, but also the infallible support of my advisers and my family, both in the U.S. and in Cameroon. I'm so grateful to all of them."