Graduate Groups

The Ecocritical Studies Research Workshop (ESRW) is an interdisciplinary initiative connecting faculty and graduate scholars who are working on intersections between ecology and various creative arts. Numerous academic fields have been energized by a recent turn towards interdisciplinary materialist analysis that has blurred the boundaries between the humanities and the hard sciences, and encouraged a range of new critical juxtapositions. The ESRW has responded to this scholarly sea change. Featuring a reading group that meets monthly to discuss landmark works related to ecocriticism, the ESRW cultivates a vibrant community of researchers focused on exploring a broad range of perspectives concerning ecosystems, nature and narrative, and environmental crisis. By attracting cutting-edge scholars to present original research, and by creating spaces for graduate students and faculty to present current work, the ESRW channels both external and internal resources into a sustained engagement with ecological issues.

The English Graduate Student Association (EGSA) is an organization devoted to developing a vibrant graduate presence within the English department. It serves as a liaison between faculty and students, and is an important mouthpiece for student concerns, both informally and in departmental meetings. It is a key source of funding for graduate student activities, organizations and facilities. Each year the EGSA holds elections both for EGSA officers and for members of the many graduate student/faculty-run committees within the English department. All graduate students in the English Department belong to the EGSA and are encouraged to take advantage of the many services the organization offers.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/egsa_ub 

The Graduate Americanist Group (GAG) represents an intellectual community of graduate students who, despite an impressive array of inter and intradisciplinary interests, are nonetheless yoked together by a common investment and interest in Americanist studies. We have a long tradition of addressing topical issues in American literature, literary theory and culture through a series of unique events. Historically, GAG has attempted to meet this goal by sponsoring both a vibrant single speaker series – which has featured scholars such as Emma Perez, Walter Benn Michaels, Mitchell Breitweiser and Wai Chee Dimock – and a string of conferences on figures such as William Gaddis and Samuel Delany (with Delany in attendance). In addition, GAG also provides a venue for graduate student work by hosting an annual Works-In-Progress Symposium (WIP) and by offering members the chance to test-drive ongoing work through informal presentations at our meetings.

The Medieval Early Modern Student Association (MEMSA) fosters interdisciplinary discussion and research for those students and faculty who work on various aspects of medieval / Early Modern literature, including history, art, philosophy, politics, and postcolonial Britain, among others.

The Modernisms Graduate Group (MGG) focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration and discussion in Modernist studies, between graduate departments across the university, as well as between graduate students and faculty. The group encourages discussion of any facet of Modernism in transnational and global contexts and in contiguous periods and fields, covering the 1850-1950 period in general and bringing in the contiguous fields of Victorian, fin de siècle, and postmodernism. Designed to be flexible and adaptive, MGG features a variety of forums including reading groups, works-in-progress, and visiting speaker sessions. In addition, the group collaborates with speaker series, graduate events, and conferences already in place at the University at Buffalo. 

The Graduate Poetics Group (GPG) is a student organization whose purpose is to support Poetics activities, poetry scholarship, and literary arts related activities at the University at Buffalo. It is open to all graduate students at UB, including MA students and currently has students from many departments including Comparative Literature, English, Media Study, Philosophy, and others. The GPS contributes to and supportes events such as the Oppen Centenary Conference, Pornetixxx, REFER (Poet-Scholar exchange) series, Small Press in the Archive, (co)ludere, Poets Theatre series, BYOB series, the upcoming Digital/Electronic Poetries Conference and many others. It also supports publications such as P-QUEUE, Wild Orchids, Erotic Economies, and the Visual Studies Catalogue, among others. The GPS also facilitates, and in some cases contributes, funding for graduate students who wish to undertake poetics-related activities such as hosting events, organizing symposia or conferences, and producing publications.

Gothic and Horror Reading Group

Finnegan’s Wake Reading Group

Georges Bataille Reading Group