Gretchen Barksdale
Lecturer
College of Arts and Letters
Rhetoric and Writing Studies
SDSU
Bio
Gretchen Barksdale is a proud Aztec. She earned both her degrees from San Diego State University and is delighted to now serve as a lecturer in the Rhetoric and Writing Studies department. Gretchen holds a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature and participated in the university's honors program, where she authored the thesis “The Absurdity of Milan Kundera: Laughter, Kitsch, and Hats.” She went on to earn an M.A. in English Literature with a specialization in American Literature, completing her graduate studies with the publication of her thesis “In the Woods She Toils: Witches, Ecophobia, and American Manhood.”
Although her academic background is in English, Gretchen worked as both a Fellow and Teaching Assistant in RWS during graduate school and has long felt a strong connection to the field—as well as to the department’s faculty, staff, and students.
Academic Interest: American identity (race, gender, sexuality), Gothic/Horror (witches!!), ecocriticism (environmental studies), and philosophy (absurdism, nihilism, and existentialism).
Personal Interest: Spending time with my husband and two kids, camping, hiking, running, watching way too much Netflix, and cuddling with my dogs.