Alivia Ragsdale MA Student - Literature

Alivia Ragsdale is an English student pursuing her master's degree at Texas Tech University. In her research, she explores the intersections of gender, literature, and social dynamics, focusing on how writers challenge and reinterpret societal norms through their works.  

As a McNair Scholar, Alivia has had the chance to work with other scholars on how literature can bridge societal divisions and interrogate complex social hierarchies across historical and contemporary contexts.  

She has published two articles: One on Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and how Woolf uses Henri Bergson's theories of Time, and another on Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and how Swift utilizes Possible World Theory to create a nostalgic, yet fictionalized version of her musical trajectory.  

Alivia has also presented at various academic conferences on topics spanning from medieval literature, anxiety of authorship, pop culture, and the justification of violence against women in stories.