USC.edu
Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture

Aidan Diamond

Ph.D. Student
Aidan Diamond
Email aidandia@usc.edu

Biography

Aidan Diamond earned her B.A. in English from Mount Holyoke College, and her M.A. in the same field at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Aidan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Comparative Media track; her dissertation, “‘For a Better Future’: Narrative and Hope at the End of the World,” examines transmedial apocalypse narratives in the context of climate change.

Education

  • MA English, Memorial Univ. of Newfoundland, 5/2018
  • BA English, Mount Holyoke College, 5/2015

  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    Apocalypse and utopia studies; environmental humanities; comics, film, and visual culture; bio- and body politics, especially regarding gender and disability; sovereignty and exception.

  • Conference Presentations

    • “Storytelling as Counter-Apocalyptic Practice,” Science Fiction Research Association , 5/2024
    • “Representing Apocalypse in Shutter and Supreme: Blue Rose,” American Comparative Literature Association , 3/2023
    • “‘All Worlds Are Yours Now’: Strategies of Worldbuilding in Shutter,” International Graphic Novels and Comics Conference , 6/2019
    • “‘I am (not) a monster’: The Liminal Determinancies of Abigail Hobbs,” American Comparative Literature Association , 3/2019
    • “‘Every Variation, Every Supremium Delusion’: (Re)Defining the Superhero and the Limits of Reinvention,” Superheroes Beyond , 12/2018
    • “‘The World Made New’: Nostalgic Revisioning in Alan Moore’s Supreme,” International Graphic Novels and Comics Conference , 6/2018
    • “‘Until I stand revealed in the glass’: Vision, Madness, and Identity in Arkham Asylum,” Mirror Mirror: Perceptions, Deceptions, and Reflections in Time , 3/2018
    • “‘Any more of your deviant behavior’: Masculinity in Gotham City,” Comics and Popular Arts Conference , 9/2017
    • “‘Cross the line’: Checks and Balances on Vigilante Justice in Batman: Under the Red Hood,” Graphic Justice Research Alliance Conference , 7/2017
    • “‘Start at the beginning’: Considering Narrative Sequence in Serialized Cover Art,” International Graphic Novels and Comics Conference , 6/2017
    • “‘I pledge you!’: Disability, Monstrosity, and Sacrifice in Wytches,” International Graphic Novels and Comics Conference , 7/2016
    • “‘Your name is Alice? Is that what you said?’: The Rescue of Wonderland’s Alice in Batman Comics,” Popular Culture Association of Canada , 5/2016
    • “‘We’re just human’: Posthuman Apocalypse and the Revisionary Superhero Narrative in Supreme: Blue Rose,” Canadian Society for the Study of Comics Conference , 5/2016
    • “Tikkun Olam Comes to Gotham City: Kate Kane and the Jewish Superhero,” Canadian Society for the Study of Comics Conference , 5/2015

    Other Presentations

    • ‘The Great White Wonder’: Counterhistory and Nostalgia in Alan Moore’s Supreme, “(In)Visible Histories: Counterhistory, Race, Visuality”, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2020-2021
    • Politics in Gotham (panelist), Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 2019-2020

  • Book

    • Diamond, Aidan; Poharec, Lauranne (Ed.). (2017). Freaked and Othered Bodies in Comics. (Vol. 8, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics.

    Book Chapters

    • Diamond, A. (2017). “‘Stronger than their madhouse walls’: Disrupting Gotham’s Freak Discourse in ‘Mad Love’ and ‘Harley Quinn'”. pp. 120-132.Jefferson: McFarland & Co..
    • Diamond, A. (2019). “Dawn of Justice: Revisioning, Accountability, and Batman in the 21st Century”. Politics in Gothampp. 213-231.Palgrave Macmillan.

    Journal Article

    • Diamond, A. (2018). “‘I pledge you!’: Disability, Monstrosity, and Sacrifice in WYTCHES”. Studies in Comics. Vol. 8 (2), pp. 171-185.
    • Diamond, A., Poharec, L. (2017). Introduction: freaked and othered bodies in comics. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. Vol. 8 (5), pp. 402-416.
    • Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellow, Spring 2024
    • Salz-Pollak Research Award, Fall 2023

  • Conferences Organized

    • Committee President, “(In)Visible Histories: Counterhistory, Race, Visuality”, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2020-2021
    • Co-organizer, conference moderator, Mixing Visual Media in Comics, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, 2015-2016

    Reviewer for Publications

    • Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Taylor and Francis/Routledge, Journal Article Referee, 2016 –
    • Arab Studies Journal, Journal Article Referee, 2017-2018