dissertation research

The Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN) awards dissertation fellowships of one, two, or three quarters in length to Northwestern doctoral students through an annual competitive process. Awards are made by a faculty committee. For information on upcoming calls for applications, click here.

By Year: 2023-24 |2022-23 | 2021-222020-21 | 2019-202018-19 | 2017-18 | 2016-17 | 2015-16 | 2014-15 | 2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11

2023-24

Bahram Naderil (Anthropology)
naderil@u.northwestern.edu 
Dissertation chair: Mary Weismantel
“Before the eyes of God:” transness, ethics, and the aesthetics of piety among Muslim waria in Yogyakarta, Indonesia”
Anqi Pan (History)
anqipan2025@u.northwestern.edu 
Dissertation chair: Peter J. Carroll
“Sexology with Chinese Characteristics: The Revival of Sexual Science for China in Reform”
Kris Rosentel (Sociology)
krisrosentel@u.northwestern.edu 
Dissertation chair: Andrew Papachristos
“The Lavender Legacy: Durable LGBTQ Inequalities in Criminalization and Victimization in the Post-Lawrence United States”

2022-23

Mirna Nadia (Sociology)
mirnanadia@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Ann Orloff
“‘Understanding State’s Responses Toward Disadvantaged Groups in Democratized Indonesia”
Febi Ramadhan (Anthropology)
febiramadhan2025@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Mary Weismantel
“How to Do Things with God: The Making of Incommensurability of Same-Sex Sexualities and Islam in Indonesia”
Aoi Saito (History)
aoisaito2019@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Amy Stanley
“Contesting Welfare in Red-light Districts: Women’s Networks, Self-Protection, and Public Health in Japan, 1925-1965″”
Enzo Vasquez Toral (Performance Studies)
enzo@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Ramon Rivera Servera
“Cuir Devotion: Folklore, Sexuality, and Performance in the Andes”
Cinnamon Williams (African American Studies)
cinnamonwilliams2023@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Martha Biondi
“Slave of a Slave No More: Gender, Intimate Labor, and Black Feminist Theories of Domestic Life, 1967-1987”

 

2021-22

Julia Fernandez (Media, Technology, and Society)
j-fernandez@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Jeremy Birnholtz
“‘Being Yourself’: LGBTQ+ Authenticity on Social Media”
Gervais Marsh (Performance Studies)
gervaismarsh2021@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Jennifer Nash
“What Lies Beyond the Irreconcilable: Black Artists Envision Otherwise Possibilities”
Erique Zhang (Media, Technology, and Society)
erique@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Aymar Jean Christian
“Looking Trans and Being Beautiful: Understanding Conceptions of Beauty among Transgender Women and Femmes”

 

2020-21

 

Alyssa Lynne (Sociology)
alyssalynne2022@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation Chair: Steven Epstein
“Transnationalizing Gender, Medicine, and Standardization: Gender-Affirming Healthcare in Thailand and the United States”

 


 

 

Jennifer Porter-Lupu (Anthropology)
jenniferporter-lupu2022@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation Chair: Mark Hauser
“Bodily Care in Crisis: Household Medicine Use and Access in Washington, D.C., 1890-1930”


 

2019-20

Keegan Terek (Anthropology)
keeganterek2016@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Shalini Shankar
“Linguistic Entailments of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Asylum in Amman, Jordan”
Dominique Adams-Santos (Sociology)
dominiqueadamsromena2021@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Celeste Watkins-Hayes
“Queer Women of Color, Intimacy and Digital Placemaking in Chicago”
Erik Lovell (Sociology)
eriklovell2020@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation chair: Celeste Watkins-Hayes
“Pathways of LGBTQ+ Homeless Youth into Adulthood: Navigating Resource Brokers”

2018-19

C. Tova Markenson C. Tova Markenson (Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama)
ctmarkenson@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Tracy C. Davis
“Entrance Forbidden to the Yiddish Theatres: Performance, Prostitution, and Protest in Latin America (1900-1939)”

2017-18

V Chaudhry V Chaudhry (Anthropology)
vinitachaudhry@gmail.com
Dissertation adviser: Shalini Shankar
“The Price of Transgender Justice: Funding, Advocacy, and Racial Politics in Philadelphia, PA”
Eddie Gamboa Eddie Gamboa (Performance Studies)
eddiegamboa2018@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Ramon Rivera-Servera
“Sex Tech(s): Pleasure, Performance, Pedagogy in the Age of Geo-location”
Rae Langes Rae Langes (Performance Studies)
rlanges@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Mary Weismantel
“Performing Monstrosity: Queer and Transgender Tactics of Resistance in Twenty-first Century United States”
Whitney Pow Whitney Pow (RTVF / Screen Cultures)
whitneypow@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Lynn Spigel
“Illegible Subjects: A Phenomenology of the Other in Queer Software Studies”

2016-17

Ivan Bujan Ivan Bujan (Performance Studies)
ibujan@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Joshua Chambers-Letson
“The Ecstasy of Sexual Abjection: Performance and Queer World Making”
Mollie McQuillan Mollie McQuillan (Human Development and Social Policy)
molliem@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Diane Schanzenbach
“Transitions: Pubertal Medical Treatment, Social Interactions, and Immune Response for Two Cohorts of Gender Dysphoric Youth”
Lital Pascar Lital Pascar (Rhetoric and Public Culture)
litalpascar2017@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Janice Radway
“‘A New, Revolutionary Way to Love’: contemporary discourses about (non)monogamy”

2015-16

Stefan Vogler Stefan Vogler (Sociology)
Svogler@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Steve Epstein
“Civic Epistemologies of Sex: How the U.S. State Adjudicates Sexual Rights”

2014-15

Meiver de la Cruz Meiver de la Cruz (Performance Studies)
Meiver@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Susan Manning
“Economies of Authenticity: Belly Dance and Post-9/11 Nationalism in the United States”
Beth Hartman Beth Hartman (Anthropology)
Bethhartman@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Micaela de Leonardo
“Hearing the Dance: An Ethnographic and Ethnomusicological Study of Stripping in the Midwestern US”

2013-14

Elizabeth Rodriguez Elizabeth Rodriguez (English)
Elizabeth.rodriguez@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Wendy Wall
“Consensual Relations: Sexual and Political Subjectivity in England, 1550-1700”
Leigh Goldstein Leigh Goldstein (Screen Cultures/ Gender & Sexuality Studies)
Leighgoldstein2014@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Lynn Spigel
“Special for Women: Television and Feminist Activism in the Postwar US”
Ari Shaw Ari Shaw (Political Science)
Arishaw2013@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Karen Alter
“Claiming International Rights: Human Rights Mobilization and Domestic Change”

2012-13

Tera Agyepong Tera Agyepong (African American Studies/Law)
tera@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Martha Biondi
“Boundaries of Innocence: Race, Sex, and the Criminalization of Black Children in Chicago’s Juvenile Justice System, 1893-1950”
Kareem Khubchandani Kareem Khubchandani (Performance Studies)
kareem.khubchandani@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: E. Patrick Johnson
“Ishtyle: Queer South Asian Performance Across Borders”
Alexandra Lindgren-Gibson Alexandra Lindgren-Gibson (History)
alexslg@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Alex Owen
“Unintended Consequences: The Productive Potential of British Regulation of Sex and Race in India, 1858-1914”

2011-12

Jeffrey Kosbie Jeffrey Kosbie (Sociology/Law)
j-kosbie@nlaw.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Laura Beth Nielsen
“The Role of LGBT Legal Organizations in a Social Movement Field”

2010-11

Theo Greene Theo Greene (Sociology)
t-greene@northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Albert Hunter
“Not in My Gayborhood: Sexual Identity, Sexual Orientation, and the Politics of Place”
Angela Maione Angela Maione (Political Science/Gender & Sexuality Studies)
angelamaione@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Linda Zerilli
“Wollstonecraft’s Revolutionary World Republicanism”
Gregory Mitchell Gregory Mitchell (Performance Studies/Gender & Sexuality Studies)
gcmitchell@gmail.com
Dissertation adviser: E. Patrick Johnson”
Packaging Desire: Commissioning Performances of Racialized Masculinity in Brazil’s Gay Sex Tourist Industry”
Melissa Minor Peters  Melissa Minor Peters (Anthropology/Masters in Public Health)
m-minor@northwestern.edu
Dissertation adviser: Karen Tranberg Hansen
“Gender Variance, Stigma, and Economy in Kampala, Uganda”

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