Exploring Body Horror, Post-Colonialism, and Neurodiversity Through Capstone Research
By Nylah Winchester, senior English major
June 4, 2026
Pictured above: Rose Alting (left), Rowan Dettloff (middle), Autumn Price (right)
The 麻豆传媒 English department encourages its capstone students to research something they are passionate about because, in the words of Dr. Diana Maltz, 鈥渢he capstone is something you have to live with during senior year.鈥 For Rowan Dettloff, Rose Alting, and Autumn Price, this meant exploring themes of identity, storytelling, and representation in literature. Their capstone projects investigate queer horror comics, postcolonial literature, and neurodiversity in classic literature. Even though these topics are different, Rowan, Rose, and Autumn share a common goal: they all challenge readers not to accept stories at face value.
鈥淓very capstone project begins with a question. This question is what guides us through reading, analysis, research, and writing鈥攊t keeps us going.鈥
鈥 Nylah Winchester
Rowan Dettloff, an English major and Art minor, combines academic research with an original mini-graphic comic to investigate the relationship between queerness, body horror, and monstrosity. Rowan explains, 鈥淭he experience of being queer, particularly of being trans, is something that is monsterized by larger culture. It quite frequently results (at least for me) in a complicated relationship with yourself, your desires, and your body.鈥 For Rowan, living in an 鈥淥thered鈥 body is like a body horror experience itself, so it felt easy for him to draw parallels between queerness and the monstrous body.
Rowan鈥檚 capstone is heavily influenced by Dr. Merrilyne Lundahl鈥檚 course, Rhetoric of the Body. Rowan describes the class as 鈥渋ncredibly interesting and beautiful,鈥 as it was one of 鈥渢he first times [he] was given the language and opportunity to question what [queer people] have been silently taught about [their] own bodies.鈥 He has found that 鈥減art of the queer experience is coming to terms with the fact that [queer people] will be inevitably viewed with some disgust, confusion, or fear.鈥 Rowan, in his life and work, fights to find joy and power despite those conceptions.
In addition to being influenced by 麻豆传媒 classes, many pieces of media also influenced Rowan’s capstone project. One in particular was an anime and manga by Mokumokuren. 鈥淚n The Summer Hikaru Died, a gay teenager鈥檚 best friend dies. The friend is replaced by a cosmic, unknowable, monstrous entity wearing his face.鈥 Rowan found 鈥 the complicated depiction of queer desire and how that fits into the world, quite beautiful.鈥
Blending critical analysis and creative practices has 鈥渃ertainly been interesting.鈥 Rowan shares that the project initially felt intimidating: 鈥淚 have had doubts about how academic my project really is at times, as it feels incredibly self-indulgent to be making a comic for my capstone.鈥 Over time, however, the research began to shape Rowan鈥檚 comic. While researching, Rowan discovered 鈥渁 wealth of academic discussion on 鈥榯he monstrous queer,鈥 which stems from the idea of 鈥渢he monstrous feminine.鈥 His research led him to a central idea: monstrosity can become a source of empowerment rather than shame.
Overall, Rowan just wants other queer readers to see themselves in his mini-comic. He describes his college experience as 鈥渢ime centered around learning to accept [himself] as a queer person. [He is] telling this story because [he] needs to hear it too.鈥 Rowan maintains that he is no expert on the history of queer theming in the horror genre, but he still wants readers to see how queer individuals might find power in flipping the narratives of monstrosity.
Pictured Above: Sketches for Rowan鈥檚 mini-comic
Rose Alting鈥檚 capstone emerged after taking courses in Irish Literature, Poetry of Witness, and South African Decolonization Literature. Rose became fascinated by the way colonial histories shaped literature across cultures. One text really stood out to Rose: 鈥Coconut by Makhosazana Xaba, which I read in my South African literature class, has become one of my favorite books ever鈥攊t was the utmost inspiration for choosing to make this unit plan.鈥 Aside from the book’s poignancy, Rose appreciates 鈥渢he powerful truth it reveals about the long-lasting effects of South African apartheid.鈥
Rose aspires to be an educator; therefore, her capstone focuses on designing a secondary-level English unit plan that introduces students to postcolonial theory through literature from Ireland, South Africa, Indonesia, and Native America. She hopes the project helps students critically examine the narratives they encounter about colonialism and culture.鈥淚nauthentic narratives commonly glorify the colonizer and promote negative stereotypes,鈥 Rose explains. She believes that if students have an accurate understanding of postcolonialism, this can prevent future ignorance.
One of the project鈥檚 main goals is accessibility. While structuring the unit plan, Rose found herself 鈥渃ontinuously [heading] into lessons that were far too complex for eleventh graders.鈥 She explains that it is hard to find a balance with these topics: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to shy away from the authentic truth of postcolonialism, but I also don鈥檛 want to build a lesson that鈥檚 unsuited for the age group.鈥 To keep the balance, Rose always keeps her audience in mind.
Moreover, Rose intends to make postcolonial theory more approachable to high school students by connecting unfamiliar concepts to texts students already recognize. For example, she uses The Jungle Book as an entry point into postcolonial analysis because many students already know the story. Furthermore, Rose uses graphic novels and young adult literature as teaching tools: 鈥淵oung adult literature, in particular, can be more palatable for high school students because it typically focuses on characters in the high school age range. So, a student could easily relate to a character from a postcolonial piece of young adult literature, which can support their greater understanding of the postcolonial story.鈥 This is the gist of Rose鈥檚 method: 鈥渢rying to make the content easier to understand by combining new ideas with something students already know.鈥
鈥淭he ultimate goal is for everyone to walk away with a greater cultural awareness and sensitivity, and with the notion that they should challenge what they鈥檙e taught.鈥
鈥 Rose Alting
Autumn Price鈥檚 capstone focuses on one of literature鈥檚 most beloved classics: Pride and Prejudice. By using the lenses of disability and neurodiversity studies, Autumn reexamines familiar characters in ways that challenge assumptions about 鈥渘ormalcy鈥 in literature. Autumn 鈥渇ell in love with Pride and Prejudice while [she] was taking Melissa Anderson鈥檚 Jane Austen class.鈥 She noticed on her first read through, that some of the characters could be read as neurodivergent. Part of this, as Autumn describes it, is because she saw herself in characters like Mr. Darcy.
The most compelling aspect of the project is Autumn鈥檚 interpretation of Mr. Darcy as 鈥淎utistic-coded.鈥 Rather than reducing Darcy to awkwardness or pride alone, Autumn argues that many of the novel鈥檚 misunderstandings stem from social communication struggles: 鈥淒arcy is awkward in social settings, and bad at explaining himself. But he is also the shining romantic interest in the novel, and I think it鈥檚 really cool he gets to be both.鈥 Autumn also explores how film adaptations shape audiences’ perceptions of neurodivergent-coded characters. She points to moments in the 1995 miniseries and the 2005 adaptation that visually emphasize the characters鈥 social awkwardness and fixations: 鈥淢r. Collins tells Elizabeth the exact number of windows at Rosings when they visit in the 1995 mini series. This added dialogue that鈥檚 not in the text totally contributes to him being perceived as Autistic. In the 2005 version, Darcy stands around stiffly and awkwardly in multiple scenes, giving the audience a visual of his awkwardness, as described in the book.鈥
While reading criticism, Autumn recognized a gap. 鈥淎 lot of the criticism [she] read focused on the male characters because women were left out of disability studies for so long.鈥 Autumn was surprised to see that no one included Georgiana in disability readings. She believes re-examining characters is super important because 鈥渞ealizing they are neurodivergent can normalize those identities.鈥 Like Rowan, Autumn hopes neurodivergent readers see themselves reflected in literary history.
鈥淣eurodivergent and Autistic people have always existed! They have a place in literature and literary studies, and they are super fun to talk about!鈥
鈥 Autumn Price
Although their projects differ dramatically in subject and style, Rowan, Rose, and Autumn鈥檚 work reflects the ability to revisit familiar narratives and discover entirely new meanings within them that create representation. The English Program is holding capstone presentations in Taylor Hall, rooms 29 and 30, on Tuesday, June 9th, from 3:30 to 5:30, and on Thursday, June 11th, from 3:30 to 5:30. There will also be a recognition event to celebrate the seniors graduating from English on June 12th in the Central Hall Lobby at 1 pm. The community is welcome to join.
You can stay up-to-date with all of the exciting things happening in our department by following the English Program on Instagram (souenglish) and and by !
Interested in being featured on the English Program blog? Or know someone who is interested? Contact English Program blogger Nylah Winchester-Robinson at winchesterrobinsonn@sou.edu.
Learn more about 麻豆传媒’s English Programs:
English Home Page | English BA/BS | English Minor | TESOL Certificate Program
