Carla Mar铆a Thomas, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Director of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters
English
Boca Raton Campus
About
Dr. Carla Mar铆a Thomas received their BA and MA from Florida State University (2006 and 2008, respectively) and their PhD from New York University (2016). Dr. Thomas鈥檚 research focuses on accessibility to the field of Medieval Studies broadly defined and to the literature of their specialized area of Early Middle English literature specifically in two important ways: by analyzing ways the premodern literary field can become more welcoming to scholars of all levels and backgrounds, including practical methods for opening up the classroom; and by editing, translating, and producing research on Early Middle English texts, preferably in Open Access publications where possible. This dedication to accessible premodern research is demonstrated in the publication of their first article on the late 12th-century collection of verse homilies called聽The Ormulum聽in 2013 in Volume 20 of聽. Dr. Thomas鈥檚 2020 publication on expanding the purview of the traditional Medieval English Literature course in U.S. university settings was published in an Open Access edited collection by punctum books titled聽.
In their Early Middle English research, Dr. Thomas pays special attention to eschatological poetry and their manuscripts: that is, poems on Judgment Day and death and their surviving witnesses. Aside from 鈥淥rm鈥檚 Vernacular Latinity鈥 (linked above), they recently published 鈥溾橧ch nam ofdrad of none dome鈥: Seeking Judgment in聽The Owl and the Nightingale鈥 in the journal聽Early Middle English聽(vol. 5, no. 1) in April 2024, and in 2019, they published an article titled 鈥淭he Case of聽Poema Morale:聽Old English Homiletic Influence in Twelfth-Century Rhyming Verse鈥 in聽Remembering the Present: Generative Uses of the Anglo-Saxon Past聽(Brill). Two articles forthcoming in 2025 include a creative-critical piece that focuses on聽The Grave聽(another late 12th-century death poem) and transhistorical connections of lost intimacy in another Open Access edited collection and another on the overview of sexuality in England in a Routledge anthology.
In Spring 2025, Dr. Thomas has a Scholarly and Creative Accomplishment Fellowship to complete a draft of their translation project, tentatively titled聽The Ormulum: A Modern Prose Translation, which would be the first modern translation of the collection (). Other works-in-progress include an article on the purposeful emendations to the youngest surviving copy (c. 1300) of聽Poema Morale聽that suggests a narrowing of audience to religious women, a playful article on interpreting 鈥淲alter鈥 in聽The Ormulum, a monograph on eschatological poetry in the Early Middle English period titled聽A Matter of Life and Death: Judgement Day in Early Middle English Poetry, and a digital edition and translation of the surviving copies of聽Poema Morale, which date from approximately 1190 to 1300.
Dr. Thomas has taught the following, usually in person:
- LIT2030: Interpretation of Poetry
- ENL2012: British Literature to 1798
- ENG3822: Introduction to Literary Studies
- ENL4210: Medieval Literature
- ENL4311: Chaucer
- LIT4383: Women and Literature
- ENL4930: Special Topics - 21st-Century Medieval Monstrosity (typically summer)
- ENG6455: Special Topics - Medieval Gender and Sexuality
- LIN6107: History of English Literature
Coming聽Spring 2026, Dr. Thomas will teach a Special Topics course on Old English language and literature for the first time in 麻豆精品视频history!
In addition to their academic research, Dr. Thomas is also a founding member of the聽, a founding Executive Board member of聽, and President of the聽y. Outside of academia, Dr. Thomas enjoys playing video games like聽Skyrim聽and聽Dragon Age, painting, practicing piano, frolicking on the beach, and losing to their little gremlin at chess.