Carnegie Mellon University
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences  ›  Department of English  ›  About Us  ›  Ph.D. Students  ›  Bios  ›  Benjamin Williams

Benjamin Williams

Benjamin Williams

Ph.D. Student

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Area of Study

PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies

Bio

My research focuses on 20th and 21st-century media, visual culture, and literature in the Americas with attention to conceptions of race, mobility, and the law. My dissertation, “Mediating Documentation: Race, Affective Governance, and the US/Mexico Border,” traces representations of legal documents, migration, and surveillance cultures in the borderlands. By analyzing documentary films, photography, television series, and art installations, I consider how these media self-reflexively bolster or call into question state documentation practices.

 

Education

  • B.A. in Philosophy, University of Texas at El Paso
  • M.A. in English and American Literature, University of Texas at El Paso

Research

Media, Critical Border Studies, Migration, Visual Culture

Publications