Meredith Farmer
Education
Ph.D. English and Comparative Literature.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2016.
B.A. English, Philosophy, and the Integrated Program in Humanities, Kenyon College, 2005.
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Academic Employment
Assistant Teaching Professor, Wake Forest University (2016-present)
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Visiting Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University (2012-2013; 2015-2016)
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External Fellowships
Smithsonian Institution Libraries (2019)
New Bedford Whaling Museum (2016)
Chemical Heritage Foundation (2015)
Bakken Museum of Electricity and Life (2014)
Smithsonian Institution Libraries (2014)
American Philosophical Society (2013)
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Service to the Profession
Melville Society, Associate Secretary and Member of the Executive Committee (2017-2022)
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Melville Society, Founder and Chair of Travel Grant Awards Committee (2018-2024)
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Modern Language Association, Committee on the Status of Graduate Students in the Profession (2016-2020)
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Book Projects
Melville’s Leaks: Science, Materialism, and the Reconstitution of Persons (under advance contract, Northwestern University Press).
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Ahab Unbound Melville and the Materialist Turn, Minnesota UP, 2022.
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Digital Projects
Hidden Town: A Virtual Exhibit (Partnership with Old Salem Museum & Gardens' work to uncover the history of slavery in our community.)
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Environmental Destruction (Portfolios of public student projects)
Recent and Forthcoming Work
“Invisible Whales and Subtle Agencies” Speculative Materialisms in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Christian Haines, Mark Noble, and Renée Bergland (solicited, under development).
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“Natural Humans, Arbitrary Persons, and Expatriated White Jackets” Oxford Handbook on Herman Melville, ed. Jennifer Greiman and Michael Jonik (solicited, under development, Oxford UP).
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“‘Death Trellised Life’: Melville and the Model of Early Organic Chemistry,” Arizona Quarterly, forthcoming special issue.
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“Introduction: Rethinking Ahab: Melville and the Materialist Turn," Ahab Unbound, Minnesota UP, 2022.
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“The Confidence-Man and the Avatar.” Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, Special Issue on The Confidence-Man Today, ed. Rodrigo Lazo, October 2019.
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“A Natural History of Intellect?” Approaches to Teaching Emerson’s Essays and Other Works, ed. Long and Meehan, New York: Modern Language Association, August 2018.
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"A Brief History of the Origin of the Melville Society: Bezanson Archive Fellowship Report," Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, June 2017.
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“Herman Melville and Joseph Henry at the Albany Academy; or, Melville’s Education in Mathematics and Science,” Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, June 2016.