SEEK Fellow – “Observation Experiment” Exhibition Team

PhD student in the Department of English

Parts of the exhibition “Observation Experiment” were created by a group of doctoral students called the SEEK Fellows. The SEEK (Sharing Expertise and Exploring Knowledge) Fellowship is provided by the Michigan State University Graduate School and its purpose is to help doctoral students discover ways to communicate knowledge to broader audiences.

Learn More About Sandy

Sandy Burnley is a PhD candidate in the English department, specializing in Victorian Studies, Animal Studies, and Digital Humanities. She examines animal representations across various genres of Victorian literature in order to examine our perspective of the environment and its inhabitants. She contends observing other species as more than mere anthropomorphized characters allows humans to challenge humanistic constructs, question what it means to be human, disrupt ableist tendencies, challenge dichotomous thought, and maintain a more biologically-diverse and ecocritical planet. Observing other beings with respect and suspending our imaginary constructs allows us to create new ways of being in the world; it is a methodology that encouraged her to participate in this exhibition.