When Worlds Collide (or Don't): Literature and Geography in the Nineteenth Century

Author

Meghan E. Hodges, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical CollegeFollow

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Comparative Literature

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

This dissertation is a comparative literary investigation into societal attitudes towards creolization in nineteenth-century Philippines, Spain, and Louisiana. Following the geo-cultural theories of Edouard Glissant and Michael Wiedorn, I develop a framework for comparing peninsular and archipelagic thought. In the application of creolist theories to these geographies, this dissertation probes the extensibility of Glissant’s archipelagic and island studies theories beyond the Caribbean context as well as provides a new mode of thinking through cultural connectivity in the nineteenth century. In three chapters, this dissertation illuminates a connection between geographical thought and creolist attitudes across literary traditions.

Date

2-27-2026

Recommended Citation

Hodges, Meghan E., "When Worlds Collide (or Don't): Literature and Geography in the Nineteenth Century" (2026). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 7002.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/7002

Committee Chair

Heneghan, Dorota

LSU Acknowledgement

1

LSU Accessibility Acknowledgment

1