Dickinson Scholar Studies Literature at Oxford

Dickinson College Scholar Janel Pineda is currently studying at Oxford University in the United Kingdom through a unique and prestigious study abroad program. A junior majoring in English literature with a minor in creative writing, she is the first domestic student of color from Dickinson to be accepted to the Mansfield College Visiting Student Programme at Oxford.

Janel now has the opportunity to continue her Dickinson studies for a full year at Mansfield College. She has taken care to craft her focus at Oxford around the origins of empire and early modern colonial thought, set alongside contemporary literature emphasizing postcolonial and marginalized voices. She is also part of an intersectional feminist reading group highlighting the voices of U.S. women of color writers, Black feminist theory and Queer theory.

“I hope Scholars seek out opportunities that excite them.”

Her primary tutorial for first term is on Toni Morrison, and her secondary tutorial is confessional poetry; in the secondary tutorial, she has focused on how women of color have been excluded from the confessional poetry movement.

In addition to her academic work, Janel is poet. She has recently been published in a comprehensive literary survey, The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States.

“This one will always be special to me,” Janel says of the publication. “To have my work included in this collection means so very, very much.”

She looks forward to seeing her fellow Posse Scholars take advantage of the chance to study abroad.

“I hope Scholars seek out opportunities that excite them––even ones they never could have imagined,” says Janel.