University doctoral candidate Elizabeth Leet has received Phi Beta Kappa Society’s 2014 Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship in French Studies. The Fellowship comes in the form of a $20,000 stipend that may be used for the study of Greek history, archaeology, language and literature, or French language and literature. The award is exclusively for unmarried women aged 25-35.
Leet will use the award to advance her research of feminist theory. Her dissertation, titled “Women, Horses, and the Coming-Together of Species in High Medieval Literature,” focuses on the interaction between horsemanship and women in French Medieval society.
Leet researches and analyzes the action of riding horses. She holds that this allowed medieval women to gain social freedoms in society and repudiate the “damsel in distress” stereotype. She is currently editing and digitizing medieval French literary works with veterinary manuals and training journals to analyze this relationship between animal and woman.
“This stipend will help enormously as I prepare a digital edition of one bilingual version of a medieval veterinary manual written by Jordanus Rufus, a horse trainer and healer who worked for the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II until the end of his reign in 1250,” Leet said.
Leet’s advisor Amy Odgen, a French medieval studies and gender studies professor, said in a University press release that her work will make a significant contribution to the field.
“Although horses in medieval works have received some attention in the past, Lise’s dissertation will make a significant contribution by looking at literary works alongside veterinary and training manuals, and by considering both in the light of the most recent theories of how human and non-human animals not only communicate, but even shape each others’ identities,” Odgen said.
Leet plans on having the body chapters of her thesis completed along with the digital edition by the end of the year. She is also working on two journal articles while simultaneously taking courses at École Normale Supérieure.
Leet said she has been a horse enthusiast since childhood.
“I spent every moment my parents allowed at the barn, I dreamt about horses, and I imagined a career as a professional horseback rider,” Leet said. “Of course, my plans eventually changed, but my first love has always been horses.”
When Leet arrived at the University, she took a medieval literature class with Ogden, opening the door for the exploration of horses and female literary characters in medieval English and French narratives.
The fellowship is one of many for Leet. She previously received the Mellon Dissertation Fellowship and the First-Year Full Fellowship from the Department of French Language and Literature. She has also been awarded the Bourse Jeanne Marandom fellowship from the Société des Professeurs Français et Francophones d’Amérique.
“The Sibley Fellowship has been awarded to so many scholars whose work I admire and who I wish to emulate, so being recognized alongside them is a great honor,” Leet said.
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