Grace
Walraven.
Graduate student in English literature at Murray State University, exploring questions of identity, gender, and political life through literature.
About Grace.
I am an M.A. candidate in English literature at Murray State University. I plan to pursue a Ph.D. in English literature, specializing in twentieth-century and contemporary American science fiction and speculative fiction, with a concentration on women and gender.
I earned a B.A. in English literature and political science from the University of Alabama. My experiences in mentorship programs at the University of Alabama and the University of South Dakota sparked my love of higher education and helped shape my aspirations as a scholar and educator.
In teaching literature and writing, I recognize that there is more than one productive way to read a text or develop an argument. I aim to introduce a range of methods, offer individualized guidance, and help students assess what works for them. Students, in turn, take an active role in exploring those methods and refining their own practices.
Reading between
literature & history.
Selected academic projects examining the social, cultural, and political contexts of fiction.
Shrouded Identities
The Liminal Space Before Emancipation
An analysis of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel Nervous Conditions utilizing a feminist decolonial framework. I use the image of a colonial shroud as presented in Jamaica Kincaid’s short story A Biography of a Dress to present shrouded identities a metaphorical understanding of the feminist decolonial processes that the female characters of Nervous Conditions must go through to reach for an emancipated identity.
Feminine Survival
First-wave feminism & the literary heroine
An analysis of the deaths of main characters Isabel Archer, Lily Bart and Edna Pontellier as representative of first wave American politics. With particular notes on the gender of the authors, and its complication of the deaths of their main characters.
Feminine Survival: A Study on First Wave Feminist Characters in The Portrait of a Lady, The House of Mirth, and The Awakening
Dune and the Inevitable Rise of American Religious Fanaticism
An analysis of Dune’s reflection and grim warning of the rising American religious right. With specific care taken to look at how Herbert treats the contrasting natures of religious fanaticism and individualism that was culturally mirrored in the United States during the late 1950s and first half of the 1960s.
An Impossible Universe
An Investigation of American Cold War Science and Speculative Fiction
A project for my directed studies course in Spring 2021. The course was designed for students to study the evolution of American science/speculative fiction that occurred during the Cold War. Students by the end of course would be able to identify the social, cultural, and political subtexts of science and speculative fiction narratives during the Cold War. Students would work through the writing process during the course with a paper proposal, an annotated bibliography, and a final cumulative contextualization paper as the primary grades.
Week 1
History of science and speculative fiction
Week 2
Cold War history and politics
Weeks 3–4
Fahrenheit 451
Weeks 5–6
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Weeks 7–8
The Handmaid’s Tale
Weeks 9–10
Foundation
Weeks 11–12
The Dispossessed
Weeks 13–16
Dune
Academic foundations.
M.A. in English Literature
- Special Topics in Women’s Literature: Caribbean and African Women Authors
- Selected Authors – British: Jonathan Swift
- Special Topics in Rhetoric and Composition: Ungrading
- American Literature from 1870 to 1920: Disenchantment and Its Discontents
- Shakespeare
B.A. in English Literature
and Political Science
- Technical Writing
- Shakespeare
- Special Topics in Literature: Detective Noir Fiction
- Senior Seminar: The American Novel
- British Fiction to 1900
- Modern American Fiction
- Modern Drama
- English Literature during the Enlightenment
- Advanced Study Comparative Multi-Cultural Literature
- Advanced Studies American Literature
- American Foreign Policy
- The “Good War”
- Modern Political Thought
- American Public Policy
- Comparative Public Policy
- Diplomatic Simulations
- Politics of Developing Nations
- Terrorism and Political Islam
Writing. Mentorship.
Student support.
Experience helping students develop clearer writing, stronger communication, and sustainable academic habits.
Peer Mentor & Writing Tutor
- Mentored student-athletes in project planning, academic organization, and professional communication.
- Led weekly writing-focused study groups for 4–6 students, supporting English composition and communication development.
- Helped students improve writing clarity, grammar, organization, and presentation of ideas.
- Built collaborative relationships with students, faculty, and university staff.
Tide Watch Mentor
- Guided first-year students through academic goal-setting and long-term success planning.
- Supported engagement and retention through individualized mentorship and organizational guidance.
- Facilitated discussions on communication, accountability, and personal development.
- Helped students strengthen time management and communication habits in academic settings.