Bio:
Dalia Barghouty is a PhD candidate in English at the University of California, Davis with designated emphases in Critical Theory and Science & Technology Studies. Her dissertation titled The Will to Wellness, a project developing further as a series of interlinking book projects and articles, traces a conceptual trajectory between desire and will. Drawing from various engagements in philosophy and critical theory, media studies and theory, and literary studies, this project ultimately approaches a reconfiguration of “wellness” – one that does not foreground a concept of desire that privileges optimization but rather a harnessing of will as a vessel of intuition – in the contemporary moment wherein ubiquitous technological media profoundly shapes experience and subjectivity. Much of her research focuses on interpreting beauty and wellness cultures and aesthetics across social media platforms as well as literary and philosophical texts.
Her writing has appeared in publications including Real Life and Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism. She has presented research with the Society for Cinema & Media Studies (SCMS), the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA), the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), and Theorizing the Web, among other venues.
Research Interests & Expertise:
Media Theory, Media Studies, Contemporary Literature, 20th Century Literature
Currently Teaching:
Introduction to Literature (ENL3)