Professor of English; Assistant Department Chair
AB, Brown University; MA, PhD, Tufts University
Email: rderosa@plymouth.edu
Homepage: http://oz.plymouth.edu/~rderosa/
Author of The Making of Salem: The Witch Trials in History, Fiction and Tourism
Editor of Simulation in Media and Culture: Believing the Hype
Phone: (603) 535-3147
Office: Ellen Reed 18
Robin DeRosa is an Early Americanist with a special interest in how we produce “history” through narrative and popular culture. Her research includes work on the Salem Witch Trials in American memory, postmodern redefinitions of the tourist, and simulated environments in contemporary media. Her current project explores the representation of the brothel in stories and geographic sites related to the American frontier. She lives in Campton, New Hampshire with her partner, sculptor Phil Lonergan, her quirky daughter, and her vocal German Shepherd.
Selected publications
Simulation in Media and Culture: Believing the Hype. Lanham, ND: Lexington Books/Rowman and Littlefield, 2011.
The Making of Salem: The Witch Trials in History, Fiction, and Tourism. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc, 2009.
“Critical Tricksters: ‘Race,’ ‘Theory,’ and Old Indian Legends” in Native American Rhetorics. Ed. Ernie Stromberg. U Pittsburgh Press, 2006.
“Reinscription and Revolution: Parody in the Narrative of Olaudah Equiano” in The Connecticut Review 26.2 (2002): 151-162.
Selected presentations
“ ‘No Man of the Mountain’: Absence and Nostalgia in New Hampshire’s White Mountains” presented at NEMLA, Montreal, 2010.
“Specters, Scholars, and Sightseers: The Production of Originality in Salem’s Witch City” presented at the Society for Early Americanists, Bermuda, 2009.
“Black and White Witches: Salem Mythology in the Golden Age of Hollywood” presented at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, Boston, 2007.
“Back to Salem: Samantha, Sabrina, and the Mock Trial” presented at the Charming and Crafty: Witchcraft and Paganism in Contemporary Media conference, Harvard University, 2006.
Awards or recognition
Elected Member, Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2011.
Distinguished Advising Award Winner, Plymouth State University, 2011.
Theo Kalikow Award Winner, Plymouth State University, 2008.
Courses Taught
Critical Theory
Currents in American Literature I
Identity and Difference in American Literature
Wilderness Literature
The F Word: Feminism in The U.S.
The “Real” World
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