The Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN) awards dissertation fellowships of one, two, or three quarters in length to Northwestern doctoral students through an annual competitive process. Awards are made by a faculty committee. For information on upcoming calls for applications, click here.
By Year: 2024-25 | 2023-24 |2022-23 | 2021-22 | 2020-21 | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | 2017-18 | 2016-17 | 2015-16 | 2014-15 | 2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11
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Ezra Arreola Martinez (Spanish and Portuguese) ezraarreolamartinez@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Emily Maguire “Anarchism, Free Love & Homosexuality in Latin(x) America (1890 – 1936)” |
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John Pollard (History) johnpollard2026@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Kevin Boyle “From the Closet to the Classroom: Queer Studies in the American University” |
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Jesse Rothbard (Spanish and Portuguese) jesserothbard2024@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Emily Maguire “Mundos Otrxs: Archives of Queer and Dissident Pleasures in Latin American Narratives of Crime (1895-1945)” |
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Facundo Suenzo (Communication Studies) facundosuenzo2025@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Leslie DeChurch “Mediated Sexualities: Tracing the Recent History of the Intersection between Media, Technology, and Sexuality among Gay Men in Argentina” |
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Ziyana Pallikkara Veettil (History) ziyana2026@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Ashish Koul “Gender, Sexuality, and Religiosity in Mappila Muslim Women’s Writings (1950-1980)” |
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Bahram Naderil (Anthropology) naderil@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Mary Weismantel “Before the eyes of God:” transness, ethics, and the aesthetics of piety among Muslim waria in Yogyakarta, Indonesia” |
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Anqi Pan (History) anqipan2025@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Peter J. Carroll “Sexology with Chinese Characteristics: The Revival of Sexual Science for China in Reform” |
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Kris Rosentel (Sociology) krisrosentel@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Andrew Papachristos “The Lavender Legacy: Durable LGBTQ Inequalities in Criminalization and Victimization in the Post-Lawrence United States” |
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Mirna Nadia (Sociology) mirnanadia@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Ann Orloff “‘Understanding State’s Responses Toward Disadvantaged Groups in Democratized Indonesia” |
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Febi Ramadhan (Anthropology) febiramadhan2025@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Mary Weismantel “How to Do Things with God: The Making of Incommensurability of Same-Sex Sexualities and Islam in Indonesia” |
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Aoi Saito (History) aoisaito2019@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Amy Stanley “Contesting Welfare in Red-light Districts: Women’s Networks, Self-Protection, and Public Health in Japan, 1925-1965″” |
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Enzo Vasquez Toral (Performance Studies) enzo@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Ramon Rivera Servera “Cuir Devotion: Folklore, Sexuality, and Performance in the Andes” |
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Cinnamon Williams (African American Studies) cinnamonwilliams2023@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Martha Biondi “Slave of a Slave No More: Gender, Intimate Labor, and Black Feminist Theories of Domestic Life, 1967-1987” |
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Julia Fernandez (Media, Technology, and Society) j-fernandez@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Jeremy Birnholtz “‘Being Yourself’: LGBTQ+ Authenticity on Social Media” |
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Gervais Marsh (Performance Studies) gervaismarsh2021@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Jennifer Nash “What Lies Beyond the Irreconcilable: Black Artists Envision Otherwise Possibilities” |
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Erique Zhang (Media, Technology, and Society) erique@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Aymar Jean Christian “Looking Trans and Being Beautiful: Understanding Conceptions of Beauty among Transgender Women and Femmes” |
Alyssa Lynne (Sociology)
alyssalynne2022@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation Chair: Steven Epstein
“Transnationalizing Gender, Medicine, and Standardization: Gender-Affirming Healthcare in Thailand and the United States”
Jennifer Porter-Lupu (Anthropology)
jenniferporter-lupu2022@u.northwestern.edu
Dissertation Chair: Mark Hauser
“Bodily Care in Crisis: Household Medicine Use and Access in Washington, D.C., 1890-1930”
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Keegan Terek (Anthropology) keeganterek2016@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Shalini Shankar “Linguistic Entailments of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Asylum in Amman, Jordan” |
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Dominique Adams-Santos (Sociology) dominiqueadamsromena2021@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Celeste Watkins-Hayes “Queer Women of Color, Intimacy and Digital Placemaking in Chicago” |
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Erik Lovell (Sociology) eriklovell2020@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation chair: Celeste Watkins-Hayes “Pathways of LGBTQ+ Homeless Youth into Adulthood: Navigating Resource Brokers” |
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C. Tova Markenson (Interdisciplinary PhD in Theatre and Drama) ctmarkenson@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Tracy C. Davis “Entrance Forbidden to the Yiddish Theatres: Performance, Prostitution, and Protest in Latin America (1900-1939)” |
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V Chaudhry (Anthropology) vinitachaudhry@gmail.com Dissertation adviser: Shalini Shankar “The Price of Transgender Justice: Funding, Advocacy, and Racial Politics in Philadelphia, PA” |
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Eddie Gamboa (Performance Studies) eddiegamboa2018@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Ramon Rivera-Servera “Sex Tech(s): Pleasure, Performance, Pedagogy in the Age of Geo-location” |
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Rae Langes (Performance Studies) rlanges@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Mary Weismantel “Performing Monstrosity: Queer and Transgender Tactics of Resistance in Twenty-first Century United States” |
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Whitney Pow (RTVF / Screen Cultures) whitneypow@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Lynn Spigel “Illegible Subjects: A Phenomenology of the Other in Queer Software Studies” |
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Ivan Bujan (Performance Studies) ibujan@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Joshua Chambers-Letson “The Ecstasy of Sexual Abjection: Performance and Queer World Making” |
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Mollie McQuillan (Human Development and Social Policy) molliem@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Diane Schanzenbach “Transitions: Pubertal Medical Treatment, Social Interactions, and Immune Response for Two Cohorts of Gender Dysphoric Youth” |
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Lital Pascar (Rhetoric and Public Culture) litalpascar2017@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Janice Radway “‘A New, Revolutionary Way to Love’: contemporary discourses about (non)monogamy” |
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Stefan Vogler (Sociology) Svogler@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Steve Epstein “Civic Epistemologies of Sex: How the U.S. State Adjudicates Sexual Rights” |
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Meiver de la Cruz (Performance Studies) Meiver@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Susan Manning “Economies of Authenticity: Belly Dance and Post-9/11 Nationalism in the United States” |
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Beth Hartman (Anthropology) Bethhartman@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Micaela de Leonardo “Hearing the Dance: An Ethnographic and Ethnomusicological Study of Stripping in the Midwestern US” |
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Elizabeth Rodriguez (English) Elizabeth.rodriguez@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Wendy Wall “Consensual Relations: Sexual and Political Subjectivity in England, 1550-1700” |
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Leigh Goldstein (Screen Cultures/ Gender & Sexuality Studies) Leighgoldstein2014@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Lynn Spigel “Special for Women: Television and Feminist Activism in the Postwar US” |
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Ari Shaw (Political Science) Arishaw2013@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Karen Alter “Claiming International Rights: Human Rights Mobilization and Domestic Change” |
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Tera Agyepong (African American Studies/Law) tera@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Martha Biondi “Boundaries of Innocence: Race, Sex, and the Criminalization of Black Children in Chicago’s Juvenile Justice System, 1893-1950” |
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Kareem Khubchandani (Performance Studies) kareem.khubchandani@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: E. Patrick Johnson “Ishtyle: Queer South Asian Performance Across Borders” |
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Alexandra Lindgren-Gibson (History) alexslg@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Alex Owen “Unintended Consequences: The Productive Potential of British Regulation of Sex and Race in India, 1858-1914” |
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Jeffrey Kosbie (Sociology/Law) j-kosbie@nlaw.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Laura Beth Nielsen “The Role of LGBT Legal Organizations in a Social Movement Field” |
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Theo Greene (Sociology) t-greene@northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Albert Hunter “Not in My Gayborhood: Sexual Identity, Sexual Orientation, and the Politics of Place” |
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Angela Maione (Political Science/Gender & Sexuality Studies) angelamaione@u.northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Linda Zerilli “Wollstonecraft’s Revolutionary World Republicanism” |
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Gregory Mitchell (Performance Studies/Gender & Sexuality Studies) gcmitchell@gmail.com Dissertation adviser: E. Patrick Johnson” Packaging Desire: Commissioning Performances of Racialized Masculinity in Brazil’s Gay Sex Tourist Industry” |
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Melissa Minor Peters (Anthropology/Masters in Public Health) m-minor@northwestern.edu Dissertation adviser: Karen Tranberg Hansen “Gender Variance, Stigma, and Economy in Kampala, Uganda” |