Sophie R. Bell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Writing, Institute for Core Studies
First-Year Writing Program, Institute for Writing Studies
Ph.D. in English, Tufts University, 2008
M.Ed. in Teaching English, Harvard University Graduate School of
Education, 1994 and BA in History , Wesleyan University, 1991
bells@stjohns.edu
Teaching
My course is based on three assumptions about writing:
1. Writing is a form of personal and cultural power. Writing is a
way of understanding yourself, understanding the world, and of
making people listen to you. The better you write, the more power
you get.
2. People learn to write by writing. The more you write, the better
you write.
3. Writing is a social act. The more you read and discuss other
people’s writing, and the more they read and discuss yours, the
better you all write.
My students spend a great deal of time writing, discussing each
other’s writing, and improving pieces of writing. While students
write in a range of modes – including personal narrative, textual
analysis, and research reflection – the slant of most assignments
is towards autoethnographic writing. Students describe, analyze,
and research the conditions and experiences of their lives, making
themselves subjects of academic discourse.
Scholarship
I am interested in American literature, education, and culture,
primarily in the nineteenth century. I study interracial alliances
and visions articulated in sentimental social arenas from books to
schools. My doctoral dissertation, “Naughty Child: The Racial
Politics of Sentimental Discipline in Selected Antebellum Texts,”
argues that the image of a disobedient child of color -- one who
refuses to learn from the adults in power around her -- became a
powerful trope for racial reformers before the Civil War.
Publications
Doctoral dissertation: “Naughty Child: The Racial Politics of
Sentimental Discipline in Selected U.S. Antebellum Texts,”
completed 2008.
“Dangerous Morals: Hollywood Puts a Happy Face on Urban Education,”
The Media on Education. Radical Teacher 54 (Fall 1997).
Conference Presentations
“Infanticide and the Politics of Mourning in James Fenimore
Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans.” American Literature
Association, Cambridge, MA May 2005.
“Affect, Excess, and Anxiety in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s ‘The
Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point.’” The Influence of Anxiety, Tufts
University Gradate Student Conference, Medford, MA October
2003.
“Why Is There a Cowboy on the Cover of Chang-rae Lee’s Native
Speaker?.” American Literature Association, Cambridge, MA May
2003.
Service Work
I serve on the Institute for Writing Studies Critical Friends Group
committee. We promote structured collegial conversation about our
teaching to improve our practice.
I serve on the School Leadership Team at my daughter’s elementary
school, P.S. 146: The Brooklyn New School, helping set priorities
and the school’s goals and challenges.
Professional Community
I am the former president and a current member of the New York
Metropolitan Area American Studies Association. We organize an
annual conference, author book talks, reading and writing groups,
and other venues for collegial conversation and fellowship among
local American Studies scholars.
I am a member of the Radical Teacher editorial collective. Founded
in 1975, Radical Teacher is a socialist, feminist, and anti-racist
journal dedicated to the theory and practice of teaching. I have
co-edited issues of Radical Teacher focusing on race and difference
in the classroom, and social justice in teacher education.