Jason Cohen

Jason Cohen

Associate Professor of English

-- Berea College
HWL Affiliation: Humanities Lab, Visiting Faculty Fellow
Year Visiting: 2011 to 2012

Professor Cohen will be working with the BorderWork(s) Lab to explore how maps both documented and shaped the early modern debates over the sovereignty of the seas. His research also investigates how these historical controversies can serve as a basis for examining contemporary concerns with oceanic environmental policy.  Integrating textually-grounded historical inquiry with contemporary ecological questions, Professor Cohen’s work exposes the great potential in humanistic investigation of pressing global concerns.  He will also be keenly involved with the lab’s focus on the digital and spatial humanities, particularly working with undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty on map digitization projects, among other ongoing and new endeavors.  Professor Cohen also plans to join the Law, Environment and the Humanities interdisciplinary working group. 

Professor Philip Stern, co-director of the BorderWork(s) Lab, noted that “Professor Cohen’s proposal is dynamic and intersects with the lab on many levels -- his interest in cartography, international law, and contemporary oceanic environmental issues all speak directly to concerns with borders as well as the legal, political, and cultural issues raised by movement across them.  He offers an uncanny overlap with interests of different lab faculty and students, while also bringing a new dimension to the discussion, in his interest in literature and law.”

Professor Cohen earned his BA in English and Cultural Theory from Tufts University and his MA and PhD in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Projects

"Humanities at Large" Visiting Faculty Fellows Conference March 23-24, 2017
Visiting Faculty Fellow
2017-2017

Highlights

Rhumb and Rule: Mapping Sovereignties of the Sea
Rhumb and Rule: Mapping Sovereignties of the Sea
-- Feb 13 2012
First, a quick introduction. Greetings, I am Jason Cohen, a visiting faculty fellow in the first cohort of Duke’s new Humanities Writ Large initiative. My work at Duke examines how early modern... Read More