Marquette English professor honored with Way Klingler Early Career Award

MILWAUKEE — Dr. Jason Farr, assistant professor of English in the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences at Marquette University, is the recipient of a 2021 Way Klingler Early Career Award.

The Way Klingler Early Career Award supports promising new scholars in critical stages of their careers. The awards are intended to fund $2,000 in operating costs and to cover a portion of salary to afford the recipients a one-semester release from teaching.

“I’m so grateful for this recognition of my research, and to be a recipient of this generous award from the Helen Way Klingler foundation,” Farr said. “I plan to use my research leave and funding to travel to libraries to conduct research for my new book project.”

Farr’s research has appeared in peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and a book that was published in 2019 by Bucknell University Press titled “Novel Bodies: Disability and Sexuality in Eighteenth-Century British Literature.”

In his new book, “Mute Subjects: Nonverbal Communication in Eighteenth-Century British Literature,” Farr examines how nonverbal communication among deaf, neurodivergent, and intellectually disabled characters and people is a defining feature of eighteenth-century British literature and culture.

Farr’s research specializations include disability studies, human sexuality, the health humanities, and sound studies. His work evaluates how commonly-held ideas about disabilities, illness, gender and sexuality have been shaped by literature from the Enlightenment forward.

Farr’s colleagues say his research is groundbreaking and relevant because the topics are of utmost importance in our society today as they relate to diversity and inclusion. His research interests also fit in well with the Jesuit ideals of cura personalis and social justice.

One nominator wrote, “What makes his work special both to Marquette’s community and to the national scholarly community of literary scholars is the brilliance with which he brings all of these areas together in new, groundbreaking ways.”

Farr’s unique approach to teaching is informed by his research. His classes prioritize accessibility, and he likes to challenge students to think transhistorically about intersections of disability, gender, sexuality and race.

The nominator added, “Dr. Farr’s work has accomplished so much, but one thing it does is put the period on the sentence that tells us that the humanities are here to stay as an essential bearer of the wisdom of the past to a present in need of it.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.