Dr. Brenna Duperron

Dr. Brenna Duperron

BA, Simon Fraser University
MA, Simon Fraser University
PhD, Dalhousie University
Office: Seton 419
Email: brenna.duperron@msvu.ca

Teaching and Research Interests

My research focuses on bridging Indigenous and Medieval Studies, through the theoretical approach of Red Reading, wherein one reads non-Indigenous texts through Indigenous approaches and ways of knowing. To me, Red Reading follows the Mi’kmaq principles of etuaptmumk, allowing premodern scholars to read and to study with both the Western and Indigenous eyes. Additional interests include mystical and embodied literature, fantasy medievalism, autotheory/storywork, orality/literacy, manuscript studies, book history, and Indigenous literatures and cultures.

Publications

Articles and Book Chapters

(Accepted) “To Owe Your Soul to the Company Store: The Canadian Promised Land in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower.” Making Exceptions, Taking Refuge: Canadian and American Border Crossings, edited by Jennifer Andrews, McGill University Press.

(Accepted) “Editing Community in the Works of Julian of Norwich.” In Journal of Medieval Religious Culture, Special Issue on Race and the Anchorhold, edited by Dorothy Kim and Michelle Sauer, Summer 2025.

(Accepted) “Not the Gods You Were Expecting: Reading Indigeneity and Settler-Colonialism in Marvel’s Thor.” In The Return to Medievalism in the 21st Century, edited by Lauren Beck and Ailen Cruz, University of Toronto Press.

(Forthcoming) “A Fixed Point in Time: Enclosed Textuality in the Anchorhold.” In Within These Walls: The Experience of Enclosure in Medieval and Early Modern Christian Female Spiritualities, edited by Araceli Rosillo-Luque and Julia Lewandowska, Brepols.

“Thinking Indigeneity: A Challenge to Medieval Studies.” Exemplaria, 33.1, 2021, 94-107, co-authored with Elizabeth Edwards.

“Ghostly Consciousness in The Book of Margery Kempe.” English Language Notes, Special Issue: Indigenous Futures & Medieval Pasts, 58.2, October 2020, 121-135.

Public-Facing Scholarship

“’Such Lands Were Pre-Eminently Desirable:’ Reading the Colonial Language of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘On Fairy-Stories,’” 3 October 2023, https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/such-lands-were-pre-eminently-desirable-reading-the-colonial-language-of-j-r-r-tolkiens-on-fairy-stories/

“Understanding ‘Red Reading,’” 5 September 2023, https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/understanding-red-reading/

“Sit Yourself Down: The Knower’s Chair in Late Medieval Literature,” 8 August 2023, https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/sit-yourself-down-the-knowers-chair-in-later-medieval-literature/

“Off with His Head: Renewal of Community in “The Rolling Head” and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Part 5),” 4 July 2023, https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/off-with-his-head-renewal-of-community-in-the-rolling-head-and-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-part-5/

“Off With His Head: Crime and Punishment in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Part 4).” DalOpenThink, 1 June 2023, https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/off-with-his-head-crime-and-punishment-in-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-part-4/

“Off With His Head: The Headless Colonization of the Green Knight (Part 3).” DalOpenThink, 1 May 2023, https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/off-with-his-head-the-headless-colonization-of-the-green-knight-part-3/

“Off With His Head: Colonizing the Landscape of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Part 2).” DalOpenThink, 2 April 2023, https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/off-with-his-head-colonizing-the-landscape-of-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-part-2/

“Off With His Head: Reading the Headless Colonization of the Green Knight (Part 1).” DalOpenThink, 6 March 2023, https://blogs.dal.ca/openthink/off-with-his-head-reading-the-headless-colonization-of-the-green-knight-part-1/

Invited Talks

“Unsettling Classrooms: Shifting the Landscape of Analysis.” Common Environments: Public-Facing Research and Premodern Cultures. Oecologies. April 9, 2021.

“From Both Our Eyes: Red Reading Medieval Texts.” RaceB4Race Symposium: Education. January 20-23, 2021.

Conference Papers

“’A Lytyl To Hastye:’ Broken Trust and Witness in The Book of Margery Kempe.” New Chaucer Society. Pasadena, CA. July 15-18, 2024.

“’Somdel Deef And That Was Scathe:’ Abuse of Power and Deafness in ‘The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.’ The 59th International Medieval Studies Conference. Kalamazoo, MI. May 9-11, 2024.

Roundtable Participant. “Tolkien and Twenty-First Century Challenges.” The 59th International Medieval Studies Conference. Kalamazoo, MI. May 9-11, 2024.

“Not the Gods You Were Expecting: Reading Indigeneity and Settler-Colonialism in Marvel’s Thor.” Atlantic Medieval Association. Halifax, NS. November 10-11, 2023.

Roundtable Participant. “’Breathing in Unbreathable Circumstances’: Women of Color Feminisms in Medieval Studies.” The 58th International Medieval Studies Conference. Kalamazoo, MI. May 11-13, 2023.

“Editing Community in the Works of Julian of Norwich.” New Visions of Julian of Norwich. Oxford, UK. July 15-16, 2022.

“Seeing Red in the Middle Ages.” New Chaucer Society Biennial Congress. Durham, UK. July 11-14, 2022.

“’Closyd in an Hows of Ston’: Re-Considering Enclosure and Community in The Book of Margery Kempe and the works of Julian of Norwich.” Canadian Society of Medievalists: Mardis Médiévaux. May 24-June 7, 2022.

“Chaucerian Etuaptmumk.” Modern Languages Association 2021. January 7-10, 2021.

“Off with His Head: Re-Reading the Headless Colonization of the Green Knight.” New England Medieval Conference. December 3, 2020.

“A Fixed Point in Time: Enclosed Textuality in the Anchorhold.” International Medieval Congress.  July 6-9, 2020.

“Blind Textuality and Enlightened Orality in The Book of Margery Kempe.” Atlantic Medieval and Early Modern Group. Halifax, NS. October 25-26, 2019.

“Reading and Writing: A Response to the TRC.” Atlantic Medieval Association. Sackville, NB. October 12-13, 2018.

“Medieval Mansplaining: The Disruption of Female Knowledge Dissemination.” Canadian Society of Medievalists. Regina, SK. May 26-29, 2018.

“Hym That Moost Desireth Me”: Reconsidering the Roles of Emelye and Alison in ‘Fragment 1.’” ACCUTE Congress 2018. Regina, SK. May 26-29, 2018.

“Sir Gawain and the Millennial Kingdom.” International Congress on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, MI. May 10-13, 2018.

“The 1211 Lines of Pearl.” Medieval Colloquium. Sewanee, TN. April 13-14, 2018.

“The Flour of Womanheid”: Robert Henryson and the Antifeminist Response to Mary of Guelders.” International Medieval Congress. Leeds, UK. July 3-6, 2017.

“The Wilde Trials, the Associated Press, and American Newspaper.” with Colette Colligan, Professor (SFU). Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada: Victorian Intimacies. Winnipeg, MB, Canada. April 22-23, 2016.

“The Picture of American Trade Courtesy: Oscar Wilde, Obscenity and Copyright Traditions.” The Novel, the Periodical Press, and the Global Circulation of Texts, 1789 – 1945. University of Warwick. Coventry, UK. February 16-17, 2016.

“The Women’s Print History Project, 1750-1830.” Michelle Levy, Professor (SFU) with Jennifer Ross and Kandice Sharren, PhD Candidate (SFU). INKE: Whistler Gathering 2016.Whistler, BC, Canada. January 19, 2016.

“Cracks in the Silence: The Associated Press’s Dissemination of the Unprintable Word.” SFU English Graduate Conference 2015: Silence and Documentation, Vancouver, BC, Canada. July 10-11, 2015.

Organized Conference Panels

Indigeneity in Medieval Studies: A Talking Circle in Honour of Lee Maracle. Plenary Session. Canadian Society of Medievalists: Mardis Médiévaux. May 24, 2022.