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Bethany Qualls
Interests
the long eighteenth-century, the novel, periodicals, feminist theory, prostitute narratives, sexuality history, modernism, comics, gossip, book history, material culture
Education
PhD, English Literature, UC Davis, 2022
- Dissertation: Public Talk, Printed Pages: Gender, Gossip, and the Formation of Eighteenth-Century British Print Culture
MA, English Literature, San Francisco State University, 2013
- Thesis: "What Price Virtue? Coding Women's Value in the Eighteenth-Century Novel"
BA, English & French and Francophone Studies, Earlham College, 2005
Teaching Experience
UC Davis
Instructor, ENL 3A: Writers' Workshop. Fall 2021
Teaching Assistant Consultant, Department of English. Spring 2021
Instructor, ENL 3: Introduction to Literature. Fall 2018, Winter 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020
Instructor, UWP 1 & UWP 1Y: Expository Writing. Fall 2016, Winter 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Winter 2018, Spring 2018
TA, ENL 186: Literature, Gender, and Sexuality. Spring 2016
TA, ENL 133: 19th Century British Literature. Winter 2015
TA, ENL 44: Jane Austen & Popular Culture. Fall 2015
San Francisco State University
TA, 18th- and 19th-Century Literature in English. Spring 2012 & Spring 2013.
English as a Second Langauge
Instructor for adult learners and teens in San Francisco, CA; Belgrade, Serbia; Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Orthez, France. 2005–2013.
Selected Publications
“Gossip’s Ephemeral Longevity: Power, Circulation, and New Media.” NECSUS #Rumor special issue (Spring 2022). https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/18836.
“‘I have such a Piece of News for you’: Serving Gossip at Haywood’s The Tea-Table,” in A Spy on Haywood: addresses to a multifarious writer, ed. Aleksondra Hultquist and Chris Mounsey (Routledge, 2021).
“Introduction,” co-written with Sarah R. Creel and Anna K. Sagal, for Fantomina, by Eliza Haywood (Renard Press, 2021).
Contributing writer, Broadview Online: Jane Austen in Context, Broadview Press Companion Website, 2019. https://sites.broadviewpress.com/austenincontext/
Book Reviews
Review of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, by John Cleland, ed. Richard Terry and Helen Williams, ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts 1640-1830 10, no. 2 (Fall 2020). http://doi.org/10.5038/2157-7129.10.2.1241
Review of Interacting with Print: Elements of Reading in the Era of Print Saturation, by The Multigraph Collective. Eighteenth-Century Fiction 32, no. 1 (Fall 2019): 218–21. https://doi.org/10.3138/ecf.32.1.218
Invited Talks
"Eighteenth-Century Periodicals, Gossip, and Social Media: or, How to best profit from the stories of strangers.” Brandeis University. September 2021
“Get to know Zotero, Your Citation and Time Saver.” Graduate student workshop series. Texas Woman’s University Department of English. April 2021.
“Who Spilled the Tea? Gossip, Tea Tables, and Eighteenth-Century Print Culture.” San Francisco State University English Department. March 2020.
“‘We see Thick Scandal circulate with right Bohea’: Bringing Gossip, Fame, and Tattling Jades to the Table.” Yale University, Sterling Library. August 2018.
Selected Conference Presentations
"Tittle-Tattle, News, or Babble? Gossip’s Many Branches, Circulations, and Bad Reputation in Early Modern England" | Gendering News in the Early Modern World | Durham University, UK | Aug. 2022
"Reimagining the Creation of B-List Celebrity: Sally Salisbury’s Eighteenth-Century Transmedia Adaptations" | American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Conference | Baltimore, MD | Apr. 2022
"'Gimme more': What Defoe’s Roxana and Britney Spears Can Tell Us About Celebrity, Commodification, and Autonomy" | Defoe Society Biennal Conference | San Juan, Puerto Rico | postponed until 2022
“Print, Social Media, and Gossip’s Longevity: From The Tea-Table to #SpillTheTea” | American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Conference | Online | Apr. 2021
“Serving Gossip and Fame at Haywood’s The Tea-Table” | Eliza Haywood: 300 Years of Love in Excess Conference | Indianapolis, IN | Apr. 2019
“Secret Histories, Secret Signals, and Subalterity in the Haitian Revolution” | American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Conference | Denver, CO | Mar. 2019
“Talking Statues, Treasonous Bishops, and Grave Robbery: Creating the Celebrated Sally Salisbury’s Print Afterlives” | American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Conference | Orlando, FL | Mar. 2018
“How Sally Gets Around: Gossip, Information, and Serial Print Culture in Victorian England” | Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies (INCS) Conference | San Francisco, CA | Mar. 2018
“Women on Display in the Papers: Prostitute Narratives and Charlotte Lennox’s The Lady’s Museum” | American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Conference | Minneapolis, MN | Mar. 2017
“Getting Graphic: Sex Work, Comics, and Coalitions of Genre” | Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Conference | Portland, OR | Nov. 2015
“Sleeping Her Way to the Top: The Menace of the Female Sexual Predator in Early American Cinema” | Humanities Education and Research Association Annual Conference | San Francisco, CA | Apr. 2015
“Just Who Is Moving that Invisible Hand? Virtue Production and Commodification in Transatlantic Nineteenth-Century Mysteries” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Conference | Riverside, CA | Nov. 2014
“‘A Traffic in More Precious Commodities’: Prostitution and Women’s Value in Eighteenth-Century Britain” | Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Conference| San Diego, CA | Nov. 2013
“Working Words, Working Women: Gendered Occupation in Rebecca West’s There Is No Conversation” | International Rebecca West Society Conference | New York, NY | Sept. 2013
“What is Pamela Selling? The Nature of Virtue as Commodity in the Eighteenth Century” | College English Association Annual Conference | Savannah, GA | Apr. 2013
Awards and Honors
2022 Invited Participant, Intention Foundry, American Council of Learned Societies
2021 Mellon Public Scholar, UC Davis Humanities Institute. See more about the project Recovering the Forgotten Women of Metal Type Design here
2019–20 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, University of California, Davis
2018–19 Catherine Macaulay Prize, Women’s Caucus, American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies
2018–19 Lewis Walpole Library Visiting Research Fellowship, Yale University
2014 Provost’s Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, University of California, Davis
2013 Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Achievement, San Francisco State University
Academic Service
Chair & Organizer for “Beyond Metal: More Hardcore Heroines in the Long Eighteenth Century” roundtable | ASECS Annual Conference | April 2022
Chair & Organizer for “Eliza Haywood and the Routes of Desire” panel (sponsored by Eliza Haywood Society) | Defoe Society Atlantic Routes and Roots Conference | San Juan, Puerto Rico | postponed until 2022
Mentorship Co-Coordinator | English Graduate Student Association | UC Davis | 2020–21
MLA Representative | English Graduate Student Association | UC Davis | 2019–20
Chair & Organizer for “That’s So Metal: Hardcore Heroines in the Long Eighteenth Century?” roundtable | ASECS Annual Conference | online | April 2021
Graduate Student Representative (founding member) | Eliza Haywood Society | April 2019 – current
Volunteer cataloguer | Letterform Archive | July 2018 – current
Mentor | Mentor-Mentee Program, Undergraduate Research Center | UC Davis | Nov. 2018 – current
Co-Chair & Organizer for “When Does the Eighteenth Century Pass the Bechdel Test?” roundtable | ASECS Annual Conference | Mar. 2019
Graduate Student Representative | English Department Honors & Awards Committee | UC Davis | Sept. 2017 – June 2018
Chair & Organizer for "Gender and Commodification" panel | PAMLA Annual Conference | Nov. 2015
Women’s Caucus Co-Chair | English Graduate Student Association | UC Davis | Oct. 2014 – June 2015
Member | English Graduate Student Association | UC Davis | Sept. 2014 – current
Editor | Interpretations Graduate Literature Journal | SFSU | Nov. 2012 – May 2013
Member | Graduate Literature Association | SFSU | Sept. 2011 – May 2013
