Hannah Silverblank

Background

About Hannah Silverblank

My professional background is in research, teaching, advising, and accessibility consulting in higher education. My research is focused in Greek Literature, Comparative Literature, Classical Reception, and Disability Studies. I have taught in various Humanities departments at Brown University, the University of Oxford, Bryn Mawr College, and Haverford College. My research is based in ancient Greek, Latin, and English texts, and explores how literature shapes broad concepts like monstrosity, cosmology, disability, queerness, magic, and classical reception. My research agenda is underpinned by a philosophical commitment to reading as a political act with lived social consequences. As such, my research aims to center and explore figures and realms traditionally marginalized in literary scholarship, to critique the disciplinary histories that produce and reproduce exclusionary forms of knowledge and knowledge-making, and to open speculative, creative forms of readerly engagement with ancient material. As a professor and passionate teacher, I have expertise in the design and implementation of learning sessions for a variety of audiences and contexts. My teaching style is trauma-informed and adapted to the needs, interests, and backgrounds of every individual group of learners. I have proven success with mentoring, increasing student engagement, and leading conversations about sensitive and difficult topics in classroom and departmental contexts. I have also managed both graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants in the production of accessible learning resources and the development of creative, collaborative approaches to facilitating community cohesion and learning experiences. I have led several workshops that help other teachers incorporate cultural sensitivity, antiracism, and DEI principles into their classrooms and mentoring relationships with students, and have been invited as workshop facilitator and inclusion consultant by multiple Ivy League universities.