The Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies (CENES) is proud to announce that three of our PhD students have advanced to PhD candidacy. We congratulate PhD candidates Steve Commichau, Patricia Milewski, and Shoshana Schwebel on reaching this remarkable milestone in their Germanic Studies program.
Advancing to candidacy requires PhD students to complete all course requirements, pass a candidacy examination, consisting of written and oral examinations, and submit a comprehensive thesis proposal approved by a supervisory committee.
Steve’s prospectus proposed examining figures of ghosts and other spectral or supernatural figures in early modern German literature and culture.
Patricia’s thesis proposal planed to analyze the lyrical production of the early modern female author Gertrud Möller (1637–1705) and the early modern poet-composer collaborative process between Möller and composer Johann Sebastiani (1622–1683).
Shoshana’s thesis will focus on the analysis of fragile expressions of trauma in childhood memoirs from 1900-1945, examining “the ways that trauma covers, conceals, transfigures, and then reveals itself within the incubatory realms of memory.”
