Michaela Castellanos new Doctor of English
On Friday 9 January, Michaela Castellanos defended her doctoral thesis "How am I Supposed to Read this Whale? Allegorical and Counter-Allegorical Strategies in Cetopoetic Narratives" at Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall.
The dissertation that she successfully defended is about stories about whales, dolphins and porpoises and how they are represented in literature, film and other narrative texts. Traditionally, animals have often been seen as metaphors in the literature, but research has now shown that many animals have human capacities and that the relationship between humans and animals can be understood in more complex ways.
Whales and dolphins have changed in our cultural history over the past 200 years, from being seen as dangerous or monstrous, to becoming symbols of magic and environmental awareness. The dissertation explores allegorical and counter-allegorical strategies in these "cetopoetic" texts, i.e. poetic stories about whales and large sea creatures, and examines how we can read and understand them.
"Not only are we fascinated by whales and dolphins, but it's almost like seeing a unicorn. It interested me how little we reflect on animals and how little research there is on this," says Michaela Castellanos.
The background to her choice of subject comes from experiences in California, where Michaela Castellanos worked as a volunteer with whales and dolphins in marine aquariums and with citizen science projects before she started as a doctoral student at Mid Sweden University in 2014.
Supervisors
Anders Olsson (English)
Charlotta Palmstierna Einarsson (assistant supervisor)
Examination Board
Vicky Angelaki, Mid Sweden University.
Roland Borgards, Goethe Universität Frankfurt
Amelie Björck, Södertörn University
Opponent
David Farrier, University of Edinburgh