This is the fifth post in a series of interviews conducted by the Woodruff Library with the 2016-2017 Woodruff Library and Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) Fellows. Funded by the Laney Graduate School School, the Woodruff Library and Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) awards fellowships to advanced graduate students expecting to complete their dissertations by the end of the fellowship period. Fellows are placed within the Woodruff Library and ECDS to work in an area related to their subject specialization or interest, culminating in a formal presentation in the Spring.
Erin Roark, 2016-2017 Woodruff/ECDS Beck Center Fellow
An Interview with Erin Roark
Woodruff: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What’s your favorite book? What’s your favorite thing about Emory/Atlanta? Etc.
Erin: I am Erin Roark and I am the Beck fellow. I am originally from Kearney, Nebraska and I am a PhD candidate in Spanish. My favorite book is Alejo Carpentier’s Los pasos perdidos. I have really enjoyed having the freedom to work across disciplines at Emory and I love how beautiful the city of Atlanta is.
Woodruff: What are you researching for your dissertation?
Erin: My dissertation research looks at contemporary representations of Al-Andalus (medieval Muslim Spain); I examine films, paintings, and poetry that recreate this medieval space and then ask how and why this past gets reformulated in the present.
Woodruff: What interested you about the Woodruff Library Fellowship?
Erin: I really wanted to branch out and learn some new skills related to database creation and usage.
Woodruff: What will you be working on this year for your Woodruff Library Fellowship?
Erin: I am helping to create a searchable database of the correspondence of Samuel Beckett.