FB09: Research Stay at University of California, Berkeley, USA

Applicant: Yagmur Su Kolsal
Faculty, specialisation: FB 09, English Studies/American Studies

During my one month stay as a Visiting Student Researcher at University of California, Berkeley, I had the opportunity to participate in workshops and talks organized by my host institute and other departments, continued to work on my dissertation project and wrote an article.

On my first week, I completed my draft for Chapter 2 to send it to my supervisor. The following week, I received her feedback. After our email correspondance and a one-to-one virtual meeting on Zoom on April 16, I decided to return to my dissertation structure to make revisions to the existing detailed outline before moving on to Chapter 4. In the second half of my month-long stay, I re-read my existing chapter drafts, and started the detailed revision process with Chapter 1. Questioning how each chapter addresses my project’s main research question, I have created a revised dissertation outline that I shared with the joint American Studies and Book Studies Colloquium at the English Department on May 20 after presenting my Scientific Report. Without getting into discipline-specific details, I can summarize the changes in the updated outline as an increased utilization of affect theory as a theoretical lens, and the attunement  of each chapter’s main lines of argumentation to the central affective focus.

In addition to the dissertation work, I also wrote an article on dark academia titled “Curating the Picturesque: The Role of Screen Media in the Emergence of Dark Academia” to submit to REDEN’s (Revista Española de Estudios Norteamericanos) special dossier “Digital Projections and Screened Identities in US American Culture”. Theorizing about the role of social media, cinema, and television in the development of dark academia in this article has made me question some of my existing assumptions in the dissertation itself. The latter is reflected in my updated dissertation outline and planned chapter edits.

Among other academic/professional benefits this stay has granted me, I can count those offered directly by the university and the cultural observations I was able to make on campus and at bookstores. On campus, I attended three talks, one workshop, one walking tour of the campus, and a professional photo session that will help me update my CV. The three talks were “2026 Bedri Distinguished Writer Series: Jesmyn Ward,” “The Eclipsed Republicanism of the Era of Conquest” by Priya Satia, and “Unclaim this Body: Necropower in the Global Circuit of Anti-Blackness” by Kris Manjapra. As an American Studies scholar, hearing Jesmyn Ward, one of the most influential American writers of our age, talk about her writing process was an extremely rewarding experience. Manjapra’s talk was not only illuminating, but the sources he cited are going to be very useful for a book chapter I am going to be writing this summer for a Black Hauntology collection.

Outside the campus, I visited seven independent bookstores in Berkeley and San Franciscos of varying sizes. The selection at these bookstores provided a good contrast to the chain bookstores that capitalize on social media trends. The popularity of dark academia books that is encountered at chain bookstores was not applicable to these independent book stores whose curation emphasized the preferences of the booksellers and their customer base.

Overall, the one month I spent at University of California, Berkeley resulted in a productive stay. The talks and lectures I attended were informative for an American Studies scholar and provided valuable sources for my upcoming chapter contribution. My first-hand experience of the US campus life has given me a better understanding of dark academia as a literary phenomenon that imagines a nostalgic alternative to it, because, although I spent a significant proportion of my adult life in a tertiary institution during my bachelor’s, master’s, and current PhD, the US American traditions around campus life, fraternities, and graduation are very different to the rest of the world. The campus tour and my frequent presence on campus during this one month allowed me to observe some aspects of this rich collegiate culture, informing my understanding of how dark academia is both a product and a critique of it.