Instructors

Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis Fulbright alumnus, is a PhD Candidate in the Department of American Literature and Culture, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His fields of research activity include LGBT+ Studies, Performance Studies and Popular Culture Studies. At present, he is working on his dissertation on the politics of global gay culture and the praxis of camp in the contemporary pop music stage. Parts of this research project have been featured in international conferences and academic journals. Mr. Chatzipapatheodoridis is currently conducting his dissertation under the aegis of IKY/SSF (State Scholarships Foundation).
Christina Dokou is Assistant Professor of American Literature and Culture at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Pennsylvania State University. Her interests lie in the areas of comparative studies of Greek myth in American literature, American culture (especially Comics Studies), American Folklore and Gender Studies (notably androgyny), areas in which she has published a variety of journal articles and book chapters, in Greece and abroad. She is the co-editor of two volumes of essays, The Periphery Viewing the World (Athens: Parousia, 2004), and The Letter of the Law: Literature, Justice and Other (Amsterdam: Peter Lang, 2013), and has served on the board of various academic(ally-related) organizations, such as The Hellenic Association for the Study of English, the Association of Fulbright Scholars in Greece, and the Byron Society of Greece.
Vasilis Harisis is a PhD candidate in the Department of American Literature of the School of English (AUTH). He holds a BA from the School of English, as well as a MA in Gender Studies from Sussex University (U.K.). His dissertation focuses on the conceptualization of the diva as a cultural construct via the study of black female singers' representations in American popular culture. He has taught courses in literature, research methods and career planning, as well as English as a foreign language. He has also participated in workshops and research projects organized by HELAAS and the School of English. His further research interests involve the history of American popular music, music criticism and fandom cultures.
Kristin J. Jacobson grew up in rural Wisconsin and attended Carthage College in Kenosha, WI (B.A.) and the University of Colorado-Boulder (M.A.). After completing her Ph.D. at The Pennsylvania State University, she joined Stockton University’s faculty. Currently, Jacobson is a professor of American literature. She teaches courses in American literature, American Studies, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Incorporating feminist geography and literary analysis, her book Neodomestic American Fiction (Ohio State University Press, 2010) investigates late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century manifestations of domestic fiction. She has also published articles in Genre, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature and Legacy and is the lead editor of the forthcoming essay collection, Liminality, Hybridity, and American Women’s Literature. Her current book project defines and examines a new genre of travel and environmental literature: the American adrenaline narrative.
Cathy Marazi is a PhD candidate in the Department of Intercultural and Translation Studies in the School of English of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature and an M.A. in American Literature and Culture. While a Ph.D. student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, she served as a graduate teaching assistant. Her teaching experience also extends to primary public schools, and secondary as well as Higher Education levels of private institutions. She was awarded a scholarship for excellence in academic studies by the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (ÉÊÕ). In 2017 she also earned a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching (CiLT) from the University of Sheffield thus granting her the status of a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests include adaptation and brand identity theory, trans-media storytelling, and media franchise culture. She has presented papers at conferences both domestic and abroad promoting her research. Publications thus far include “Brand Identity, Adaptation and Media Franchise Culture” in the Journal of Film and Media Studies Acta Universitatis Sapientiae (Vol.9, 2014) and “Superhero or Vigilante? A Matter of Perspective and Brand Management” in the European Journal of American Culture (34.1) as well as published book reviews in the European Journal of American Studies. She is a member of the Hellenic Association for American Studies (HELAAS) and a member of the “Multimodal Research and Reading Group” (School of English, AUTh) where she has collaborated with members on shared projects and has offered individual workshops.
Catherine M. Roach is Professor of Gender and American Cultural Studies in New College at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where she teaches gender and sexuality studies and leads a writing workshop. A native of Canada, she has lived and worked in the United States for almost thirty years and became a naturalized citizen in 2009. She earned her PhD in the Study of Religion at Harvard University in 1998. Her book publications include Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture (2007) and Happily Ever After: The Romance Story in Popular Culture (2016; Silver Medal in the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards). She writes fiction under the name Catherine LaRoche: Master of Love (2012) and Knight of Love (2014). In 2013-14, she held the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Leeds (UK). That same year, a Fulbright Intercountry Lecturing Award brought her to Thessaloniki for a conference sponsored by Aristotle University. The US Dept. of State named her to the Fulbright Specialist Roster for a five year term in 2016. She has lectured in Canada, Australia, the UK, Greece, and the US. Her current writing projects include an academic satire (fiction) and an analysis of America’s new sexual revolution (nonfiction).