- Ph. D. Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2018
- B.A. Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, 2009
- B.A. Comparative Literature, University of Chicago, 2009
Caitlin Watt
Senior Lecturer, English
- cawatt@iu.edu
- (812) 855-8226
- Office Hours
Education
About Caitlin Watt
My primary focus is on medieval romance, and my work tends to center on the intersection between narrative understandings of and constructions of character on the one hand and feminist, queer, and trans studies on the other. More recently, however, my interest in the transmission of classical and medieval stories across different works and literary traditions has also led me to explore applications of storyworld theory to medieval literature as well as medieval and folkloric elements in modern media. In addition to publishing articles on works including John Gower’s Confessio Amantis and Heldris de Cornualle’s Le Roman de Silence, I also co-edited a collection of essays, The Worlds of John Wick (2022), which explores worldbuilding in the John Wick film franchise.
My research and teaching have been significant influences on each other, and in addition to teaching courses on medieval literature, popular genres, and modern medievalisms, I’ve also enjoyed introducing students to archival research and historical primary sources in first-year writing courses. Developments in digital humanities and digital history in recent decades have inspired me to incorporate mapping, multimodal composition, and virtual museum exhibits into both literature and composition courses, creating more engaging classes for both students and myself. For the last few years I’ve challenged myself to use Open Educational Resources and create my own teaching materials to decrease course costs for students, and I’ve recently been learning about podcasting--I’m excited to see where new technologies take my teaching in the future.
Journal Articles and Other Publications
"'As egir as any lyoun': The Ethics of Knight-Horse Relationships in Lybeaus Desconus," Ethics in the Arthurian Legend, ed. Melissa Ridley Elmes and Evelyn Meyer (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2023), pp. 198-218.
"‘The One You Sent to Kill the Boogeyman’: Folklore and Identity Deconstruction in the John Wick Universe,” Watt and Watt, ed. The Worlds of John Wick: The Year’s Work at the Continental Hotel, pp. 194–215.
"The Disarticulation of Christendom: Dismemberment and Decapitation in Medieval Films," The Year's Work in Medievalism 35.36 (2020-2021): 50-68.
“The Speaking Wound: Gower’s Confessio Amantis and the Ethics of Listening in the #MeToo Era,” Confessions, special issue, ed. Abdulhamit Arvas, Afrodesia McCannon, and Kris Trujillo, postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies 11.2 (2020): 272–81.
“‘Car vallés sui et nient mescine’: Transmasculinity in Le Roman de Silence,” Visions of Medieval Trans Feminism, special issue, ed. Gabrielle M. W. Bychowski and Dorothy Kim, The Medieval Feminist Forum 55.1 (2019): 135–173.
“Droit and Engin: Mesencius and Drances as Feudal Counselors in Le Roman d’Eneas,” Neophilologus 102.3 (2018): 317–35.
“Nugae Theatri: Comedic Borrowings in the 1533 Edition of Erasmus’s Adages,” Erasmus Studies 38.2 (2018): 200–218.
The College of Arts