Ysabella Colwell has worked as a research assistant, served on the committee for the 2024 Trans, Disability, and Sapphic Knowledges undergraduate conference, and worked as Managing Editor for the IDIOM English Undergraduate Academic Journal. She is especially interested in Romantic Gothic literature, queer and intersectional world-making practices, and the inter-relationship of land, monstrosity, and the body. Her fellowship research project is titled It’s all Coming Up Fungus: Decay, Regeneration, and the Embodied Underground in Fungal Horror. Ysabella is one of our 2024-25 Undergraduate Fellows.
What are your main research interests and what excites you most about them?
My research revolves around the nuances of dark genre fiction and gothic modes of understanding. We are all scared of something, after all, and how that fear manifests in popular literature offers a unique look into timely cultural discourse. I initially was interested in studying Romantic era gothic literature within the context of the French Revolution, but have since expanded the timeline of my interests to examine how those classic gothic frameworks have been transformed to maintain contemporary relevance in various time periods. I am specifically interested in the question of why, during periods of incredible social upheaval or institutional change, does gothic and horror literature see an uptick in stories about monstrous bodies, be they a harrowing description of a woman going mad in a horribly wallpapered room or a representation of the death caused by colonial expansion through reanimated dead bodies. I walked into my undergraduate degree enraptured with heroines running through dark historic castles pursued by patriarchal villains, but am walking out with a deep fascination of how, despite hundreds of years of separation, we are still trying to understand our fear of others.
What project are you working on at the JHI and why did you choose it?
My project examines the transhistorical motif of mushrooms in gothic and horror texts, specifically how authors represent the fear of Western individualism through the monstrous creation of mushroom-human hybrids. One of my favourite books is Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and I was curious if the recent boom of mushroom-themed horror was a new motif or one that extended further back in history. Imagine my surprise when I discovered texts through the eighteenth century that examine the darkness of humanity by associating human bodies with mushrooms. I simply had to understand why this was a recurring motif and take the chance to look deeper into the fears of contamination, the concept of a pure neoliberal body, and the ever-mysterious Other this literature engages with.
How has your JHI Fellowship experience been so far?
Frankly, this has been one of the most encouraging and intellectually stimulating experiences of my (short) academic career. Just having the very rare opportunity as an undergraduate student to focus on a single research project of my own design for an entire year has been incredibly enriching, especially as it challenged how far I could take a research process. Furthermore, I have loved being exposed to the diverse interests of the other JHI fellows. Our weekly meetings have created an incredible sense of community and collaboration that I have not had the pleasure of encountering in any space, academic or otherwise. I will sorely miss our lunches.
Why do you believe the humanities are important?
When I think about the humanities, I think about people. I think about how people create and tell stories as a way of trying to understand themselves, each other, and the times they live in. I think about the ability to connect with another person just by hearing their story and identifying with a small part of it. I think about the history of these cultural artifacts: we have written, painted, danced, sang, and thought about how we fit into the world for as long as we have been alive. Like I said earlier, we are all scared. The humanities reminds us we are not alone in our fear, our wonder, or our confusion. They are important because they are the stories of humans that engender empathy and encourage connection in a beautiful, fun, sometimes bloody, and often cathartic way. They are our history and our present materialized.
Can you share something you read/watched/listened to recently that you enjoyed/were inspired by?
I am always on the lookout for queer and women-centred media that plays with dark themes in an interesting way. I recently finished the first season of Yellowjackets and am so inspired by the dark and twisted meditation on coming-of-age and the symbolic consumption of young women that Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson engage with.
What is a fun fact about you?
I was a ballerina for fifteen years and worked in Hollywood for just as long! My obsession with bodies and storytelling certainly had to come from somewhere.