The comparative literature faculty at Hamilton are experienced teachers and active scholars. Their research interests include Medieval and Renaissance European literature, narrative theory, Japanese literature, classics, and feminist theory.
Anna Oldfield, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian Studies
(aoldfiel@hamilton.edu) Anna Oldfield holds a Ph.D. in Languages and Cultures of Asia from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A specialist in the Caucasus, she spent two years of Fulbright research in Azerbaijan and recently published her first book on Azeri woman epic singers. Her research interests include gender and power in literature and folklore, verbal arts and music in performance, and time and space in narrative structures. Oldfield has contributed to The Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Cultures, the Smithsonian Folkways Music of Central Asia series, and the British Library Endangered Archives program. Current projects include a Title VI grant for video based Azeri language instruction, co–translating the Summer Notebooks of Hilmi Yavuz, and writing on the Caucasian woman in Soviet film. Oldfield teaches on literature, folklore, science fiction and film of Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
Anjela Peck, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
(apeck@hamilton.edu) Anjela M. Cannarelli Peck, assistant professor of comparative literature, earned her Ph.D. from Emory University. Peck’s research and teaching interests focus on the intersections of Muslim and Christian cultures as seen through the Early Modern literary production of the Mediterranean, particularly the Iberian Peninsula. Through a study of moriscos (those Muslims forced to convert to Christianity during the 16th Century in the Spanish kingdoms), her most recent project analyzes the Iberian legacy of convivencia (peaceful and violent cohabitation of Jews, Muslims and Christians) as depicted in Spanish, Arabic and aljamiado texts after the 1492 decline of al-Andalus.
Nancy Rabinowitz, Ph.D., Margaret Bundy Scott Professor of Comparative Literature
(nrabinow@hamilton.edu) Rabinowitz began teaching at Kirkland College in 1974 and joined the Hamilton faculty in 1978 when the two schools merged. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. In 2008 Rabinowitz published a new book titled Greek Tragedy (Wiley and Blackwell).
She is co-editor of the book Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World (University of Texas Press, 2002). She is co-author and translator of Women on the Edge: Four Plays by Euripides (1998), Anxiety Veiled: Euripides and the Traffic in Women, (1993) and co-editor of Feminist Theory and the Classics (1993). In the past year Rabinowitz presented papers about women in ancient tragedy and women in Greek vase painting at the British Classics Association, Stanford University and the University of Michigan. She served for eight years as the director of the Kirkland Project for the Study of Gender, Society and Culture at Hamilton College. More about Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz ...
Peter Rabinowitz, Ph.D., Professor of Comparative Literature
(prabinow@hamilton.edu) Rabinowitz, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, began teaching at Kirkland College in 1974 and joined the Hamilton faculty in 1978 when the two schools merged. He is the author of Before Reading: Narrative Conventions and The Politics of Interpretation (1987); co-author (with Michael Smith) of Authorizing Readers: Resistance and Respect in the Teaching of Literature (1998); and co-editor (with James Phelan) of Understanding Narrative (1994) and The Blackwell Companion to Narrative Theory (2005). Rabinowitz's essays have appeared in a wide range of books and journals, including PMLA, Critical Inquiry, Black Music Research Journal and 19th-Century Music. Rabinowitz is also co-editor of the Ohio State University Press Series on Theory and Interpretation of Narrative. An active music critic as well, he is a contributing editor of Fanfareand a regular contributor to International Record Review.
Su Yun Kim, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian Studies
Su Yun Kim received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in comparative literature at Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea) and Ph.D. in literature from the University of California, San Diego. Kim is currently working on her book manuscript on colonial Korean literature and culture focusing on colonial intimacy, intermarriage, and racialization in empire. Kim teaches modern Korean literature, Korean cinema, and East Asian imperialism. Previously she taught at Yonsei University where she was a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Korean Studies.
Hamilton is one of the few small liberal arts colleges where comparative literature is an independent department rather than a part of a larger program. This means students and faculty members work closely together and know one another well. We’re deeply committed to writing- and discussion-based teaching, so classes are small and interactive. Most introductory courses are limited to 20 students, and advanced courses are even smaller.
Broad Perspectives
Comparative literature is rooted in a multicultural perspective. This is particularly valuable in the modern world, where a global view must be balanced with respect and appreciation for diverse national traditions and genres. In addition, the department contributes heavily to the innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the liberal arts at Hamilton. Courses allow students to work at the intersection of literature and such diverse fields as philosophy, psychology, theatre, music and even physics and mathematics.
Renowned Scholars
As authors and editors, faculty members in our department have produced ten books and are currently at work on several more. We have written numerous scholarly articles, too, publishing on the relationship between literature and music, law, the visual arts and psychology, among others topics. Most important, our ongoing commitment to research and scholarship extends to our students, who regularly work as research assistants to faculty members.
Endless Possibilities
The study of comparative literature is carried out through intensive writing and rigorous discussion in a community of committed students and scholars. Hamilton graduates in comparative literature go on to pursue a wide variety of professions and graduate studies in such fields as law, education, publishing, journalism, medicine, government and marketing.
Hamilton is one of the few small liberal arts colleges where comparative literature is an independent department rather than a part of a larger program. This means students and faculty members work closely together and know one another well. We’re deeply committed to writing- and discussion-based teaching, so classes are small and interactive. Most introductory courses are limited to 20 students, and advanced courses are even smaller.
Broad Perspectives
Comparative literature is rooted in a multicultural perspective. This is particularly valuable in the modern world, where a global view must be balanced with respect and appreciation for diverse national traditions and genres. In addition, the department contributes heavily to the innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the liberal arts at Hamilton. Courses allow students to work at the intersection of literature and such diverse fields as philosophy, psychology, theatre, music and even physics and mathematics.
Renowned Scholars
As authors and editors, faculty members in our department have produced ten books and are currently at work on several more. We have written numerous scholarly articles, too, publishing on the relationship between literature and music, law, the visual arts and psychology, among others topics. Most important, our ongoing commitment to research and scholarship extends to our students, who regularly work as research assistants to faculty members.
Endless Possibilities
The study of comparative literature is carried out through intensive writing and rigorous discussion in a community of committed students and scholars. Hamilton graduates in comparative literature go on to pursue a wide variety of professions and graduate studies in such fields as law, education, publishing, journalism, medicine, government and marketing.
Hamilton is one of the few small liberal arts colleges where comparative literature is an independent department rather than a part of a larger program. This means students and faculty members work closely together and know one another well. We’re deeply committed to writing- and discussion-based teaching, so classes are small and interactive. Most introductory courses are limited to 20 students, and advanced courses are even smaller.
Broad Perspectives
Comparative literature is rooted in a multicultural perspective. This is particularly valuable in the modern world, where a global view must be balanced with respect and appreciation for diverse national traditions and genres. In addition, the department contributes heavily to the innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the liberal arts at Hamilton. Courses allow students to work at the intersection of literature and such diverse fields as philosophy, psychology, theatre, music and even physics and mathematics.
Renowned Scholars
As authors and editors, faculty members in our department have produced ten books and are currently at work on several more. We have written numerous scholarly articles, too, publishing on the relationship between literature and music, law, the visual arts and psychology, among others topics. Most important, our ongoing commitment to research and scholarship extends to our students, who regularly work as research assistants to faculty members.
Endless Possibilities
The study of comparative literature is carried out through intensive writing and rigorous discussion in a community of committed students and scholars. Hamilton graduates in comparative literature go on to pursue a wide variety of professions and graduate studies in such fields as law, education, publishing, journalism, medicine, government and marketing.
Hamilton is one of the few small liberal arts colleges where comparative literature is an independent department rather than a part of a larger program. This means students and faculty members work closely together and know one another well. We’re deeply committed to writing- and discussion-based teaching, so classes are small and interactive. Most introductory courses are limited to 20 students, and advanced courses are even smaller.
Broad Perspectives
Comparative literature is rooted in a multicultural perspective. This is particularly valuable in the modern world, where a global view must be balanced with respect and appreciation for diverse national traditions and genres. In addition, the department contributes heavily to the innovative, interdisciplinary approach to the liberal arts at Hamilton. Courses allow students to work at the intersection of literature and such diverse fields as philosophy, psychology, theatre, music and even physics and mathematics.
Renowned Scholars
As authors and editors, faculty members in our department have produced ten books and are currently at work on several more. We have written numerous scholarly articles, too, publishing on the relationship between literature and music, law, the visual arts and psychology, among others topics. Most important, our ongoing commitment to research and scholarship extends to our students, who regularly work as research assistants to faculty members.
Endless Possibilities
The study of comparative literature is carried out through intensive writing and rigorous discussion in a community of committed students and scholars. Hamilton graduates in comparative literature go on to pursue a wide variety of professions and graduate studies in such fields as law, education, publishing, journalism, medicine, government and marketing.
AFTER HAMILTON
Hamilton graduates who concentrated in Comparative Literature are pursuing careers in a variety of fields, including:
Fashion Editor, Marie Claire
Senior Marketing Director, L’Oreal USA
Senior Publicist, The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
Professor of Pediatrics, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Producer, Fresh Air Weekend, WHYY-FM, Philadelphia
Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice
Children’s Book Editor, Little Brown & Co.
Teacher, Action for Boston Community Development
Associate Brand Manager, Hasbro, Inc.
Psychotherapist, California Graduate Institute Counseling Center
Anna Oldfield holds a Ph.D. in Languages and Cultures of Asia from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A specialist in the Caucasus, she spent two years of Fulbright research in Azerbaijan and recently published her first book on Azeri woman epic singers. Her research interests include gender and power in literature and folklore, verbal arts and music in performance, and time and space in narrative structures. Oldfield has contributed to The Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Cultures, the Smithsonian Folkways Music of Central Asia series, and the British Library Endangered Archives program. Current projects include a Title VI grant for video based Azeri language instruction, co–translating the Summer Notebooks of Hilmi Yavuz, and writing on the Caucasian woman in Soviet film. Oldfield teaches on literature, folklore, science fiction and film of Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
Anjela M. Cannarelli Peck, assistant professor of comparative literature, earned her Ph.D. from Emory University. Peck’s research and teaching interests focus on the intersections of Muslim and Christian cultures as seen through the Early Modern literary production of the Mediterranean, particularly the Iberian Peninsula. Through a study of moriscos (those Muslims forced to convert to Christianity during the 16th Century in the Spanish kingdoms), her most recent project analyzes the Iberian legacy of convivencia (peaceful and violent cohabitation of Jews, Muslims and Christians) as depicted in Spanish, Arabic and aljamiado texts after the 1492 decline of al-Andalus.
Rabinowitz began teaching at Kirkland College in 1974 and joined the Hamilton faculty in 1978 when the two schools merged. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. In 2008 Rabinowitz published a new book titled Greek Tragedy (Wiley and Blackwell). 
Rabinowitz, who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, began teaching at Kirkland College in 1974 and joined the Hamilton faculty in 1978 when the two schools merged. He is the author of Before Reading: Narrative Conventions and The Politics of Interpretation (1987); co-author (with Michael Smith) of Authorizing Readers: Resistance and Respect in the Teaching of Literature (1998); and co-editor (with James Phelan) of Understanding Narrative (1994) and The Blackwell Companion to Narrative Theory (2005). Rabinowitz's essays have appeared in a wide range of books and journals, including PMLA, Critical Inquiry, Black Music Research Journal and 19th-Century Music. Rabinowitz is also co-editor of the Ohio State University Press Series on Theory and Interpretation of Narrative. An active music critic as well, he is a contributing editor of Fanfare and a regular contributor to International Record Review.
