Taija Mars McDougall

B.A. English, Minor in Philosophy ’14

As soon as I finished my degree at Carleton, I left Canada behind for the time being. The cold had been getting to me. This led me to teaching English, first in Basque Country, then in Germany.  Here in Germany, I began my M.A. at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in American Studies. Since beginning this program, I’ve been working with Black Studies scholars from Germany and elsewhere. Currently, I’m working on my Master’s thesis on Black radical autobiographies and the problem of blackness for temporality.

As my research frequently moves into troubling territory, the Carleton English Department contributed to my daring as a young scholar. This has allowed me to stand out among my peers. My time flitting around Dunton Tower truly prepared me for the demands of graduate school in difficult times, but also gave me the tools needed to excel in my work as a language instructor.