Congratulations to CCS Art History alum Margaret Sheble, recipient of the 2020-2021 Helen Ann Mins Robbins Fellowship in Medieval Studies at Rochester University!
Margaret Sheble is a Ph.D. candidate in English at Purdue University. Her dissertation project, “Arthurian Women and the Autonomy of Suicide,” argues that suicides in “Arthurian texts reflect wider concerns of ideal heteronormativity, gender roles, and one’s faithfulness to the Arthurian community.” Her investigation of medieval attitudes toward suicide incorporates texts and images from the English, French, and German traditions, demonstrating “cases in which women queer societal expectations with their actions or desires in relation to suicide.”
Margaret received her B.A. at Northern Arizona University, and holds M.A. degrees from Bangor University and Purdue. She has published in The Heroic Age, Magistra, and Allegorica, and has presented her work at numerous workshops and conferences. She has received several awards for her teaching and scholarship, and is involved in a number of scholarly organizations and journals, including Arthuriana, of which she is the Graduate Assistant Editor. She has worked with Alan Lupack as a contributor to The Camelot Project. Margaret’s work and professional experience is interdisciplinary: she has a background in art restoration and exhibit design, and is a gallery facilitator at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. Margaret’s work is poised to make significant contributions to the fields of medieval literary study, Arthurian literature, medieval art history, modern Arthuriana, and the study of nineteenth-century medievalism.