Sarah Birge

139 Burrowes Building
Department of English
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
seb303@psu.edu

Ph.D. in English,The Pennsylvania State University, expected May 2010
M.A. in English, The Pennsylvania State University, May 2005
B.A. in English and Biology, Austin College, January 2002

Neurofictions: Narrative Selfhood and Cognitive Disability in Contemporary Literature

By examining neuroscientific research in relation to contemporary fiction, this dissertation explores new definitions of narrative selfhood that account for people with cognitive disabilities. In fields from philosophy to psychology to cognitive science, selfhood is frequently understood as a narrative concept. Scholars argue that narrative unifies the subject, situating the self temporally in a coherent story that makes sense of experience and provides a basis for agency and autonomy. But where does this leave those who cannot narrate themselves? Cognitive disabilities such as Alzheimer’s disease or autism often impair an individual’s ability to construct and communicate a meaningful life narrative in the usual form. As a result, caregivers, legal authorities, and medical professionals frequently describe an absence of self in these individuals, leading to discriminatory treatment and demeaning stereotypes that diminish their dignity and deprive them of social justice. In this project I examine narrators with cognitive disabilities who use compensatory techniques and alternative forms of narrative to enact components of selfhood such as continuity and agency. Reading these characters in light of recent brain studies, I argue that we must develop more ethical theories of selfhood which account for multiple forms of narrative identity and broader definitions of self.

Committee: Susan Squier (Director, English), Michael Bérubé (English), Janet Lyon (English), Chloe Silverman (Science, Technology, and Society)

20th and 21st century British and American literature, cultural studies of science and medicine, disability studies, science fiction, graphic novels

• "Review of Art Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers." Journal of Medical Humanities. 28.3 (2007): 181-183.

• “Reading Memory: Brain Damage and Selfhood in Umberto Eco’s The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana.” Northeast Modern Language Association Convention. Boston, MA, February 26-March 1, 2009.
• "Paper Memories, Elastic Minds: Re-cognizing the Self after Brain Trauma." Society for Science, Literature, and the Arts 22nd Annual Conference. Charlotte, NC, November 13-16, 2008.
• “Visual (Re)Narrations of Disability: Comics, Autism, and Empathetic Scholarship.” Society for the Study of Narrative Literature International Conference on Narrative. Austin, TX, May 1-4, 2008.
• “Private ‘I’s and Public Minds: Disability, Detective Novels, and Narrative.” Society for the Study of Narrative Literature International Conference on Narrative. Washington D.C., March 15-18, 2007.

The Pennsylvania State University, 2003-present. 11.5 sections total.

Science Fiction

English 191: 1 section, 100 students.

Technical Writing

English 202C: 1 section, 24 students.


Writing for the Social Sciences/Ethnographic Writing

English 202A: 3 sections, 24 students each.


Rhetoric and Composition

English 15: 4 sections, 24 students each.


Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) Summer Academic Enrichment

Introduction to Rhetoric and Composition: 2 sections, 18 students each.


Undergraduate Writing Center Tutor

English 5: 1 semester, tutored 9 students weekly.

William L. and Josephine Barry Weiss Graduate Fellowship, 2003-2004, 2009-2010

Rock Ethics Institute Dissertation Fellowship, 2008-2009

Science, Medicine, Technology in Culture research grant, 2007-2008

WPSU-SMTC Public Service Media (PSM) Graduate Fellow 2006-2007

PSM is a partially NSF-funded group dedicated to providing a forum for public engagement on issues of concern to public radio and higher education.

Austin College Distinguished Achievement Award ($40,000), 1997-2001

National Merit Foundation Corporate Scholarship ($32,000), 1997-2001

• Research Assistant for Dr. Susan Squier, 2008-2009
• Teaching with Technology Certificate, Spring 2008
  PSU Graduate School certificate awarded for the development of a web-based portfolio demonstrating innovative use of technology in teaching.

  Coordinator, Science Studies Reading Group, 2007-2009

  Panel Organizer, Penn State Women’s Studies Graduate Organization Annual Conference, 2006

  Penn State Disability Studies Reading Group

  Penn State Science Studies Reading Group

  Penn State Feminist Science Studies Reading Group

• Modern Language Association
• Northeast Modern Language Association
• Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts
• Society for the Study of Narrative Literature

Please email me at seb303@psu.edu for references or for more information.