Robert B. Craven
Assistant Professor of English
English Faculty
Robert B. Craven
About Me
A proud Westminster alumnus (class of 2013, magna cum laude), I have been with Westminster as a faculty member since 2022. I currently serve as Assistant Professor of English. I teach courses in English, writing, and Inquiry.
Academic Degrees:
- Ph.D. in English (University of Oregon, 2022)
- M.A. in English (Duquesne University, 2015)
- B.A. in English, writing minor (Westminster College, 2013)
Research
My academic research is interdisciplinary. Trained in English and in environmental studies, I think and teach about literary and musical form through a cultural-historical lens, often making use of the methods and materials of the environmental humanities (especially the energy humanities).
My research in American cultural poetics center on cultures that are dealing with questions about energy, land use, and resource extraction. In particular I have researched these issues in rural and regional American contexts, such as in my dissertation (University of Oregon, 2022) which asks about the place of Appalachian cultural producers in relation to American literary and musical modernism.
I’ve written about literary and musical regionalism, about modernism, about literary canon formation, and about the place of regional culture (especially Appalachian culture) in popular and critical modernity.
My areas of specialization include poetry and poetics, American literature, Appalachian studies, and popular music of the early- to mid-twentieth century.
Scholarly works:
Craven, Bob. “Documenting the Corporate Underworld in Mark Nowak’s Coal Mountain Elementary.” Criticism Volume 62, Issue No. 2 (Spring 2020): 243-270.
Craven, Bob. Appalachian Moderns: Poetry & Music, 1936-1947. Dissertation. University of Oregon. ProQuest (2022).