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By Lanita Withers Goins, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-3890
Posted 10-16-09
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Dr. Michelle Dowd, an assistant professor of English at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has won the National Women’s Studies Association’s Sara A. Whaley Award for her book, “Women’s Work in Early Modern English Literature and Culture.”
Her book, which was published by Palgrave Macmillan in March, examines the narratives of 17th century dramatists and women writers and how they described the lives of working women in that era.
Many kinds of work – including service, wetnursing and housework – changed significantly over the course of the century, contributing to a change in the way women’s economic, political and religious authority was viewed. Dowd’s work confirms the social significance of women’s work during this period, and also highlights the power of fictional narrative in early modern England.
Dowd specializes in early modern literature, with concentrations in Tudor and Stuart drama, particularly Shakespeare, and early modern women’s writing. Additional interests include feminist theory and gender studies, economic criticism and early modern religious culture.
The Sara A. Whaley Prize is an annual award that honors Sara Whaley, a former publisher and editor of Women’s Studies Abstracts. Books considered for the award cover the topic of women and labor.