معرفی
Stephen Hancock is a Professor in the Department of English within the Faculty of Arts & Letters at Brigham Young University–Hawaii, currently serving as Coordinator of Composition (Fall 2024–present) and previously as Department Chair (Fall 2014–Fall 2018). His scholarship focuses on 19th-century British literature with emphasis on Romantic and Victorian periods.
Dr. Hancock's educational background includes:
- Ph.D. in 19th-Century British Literature (Romantic and Victorian) from Purdue University (2003)
- M.A. in English from Brigham Young University (1999)
- B.A. in English from Arizona State University (1996)
His research centers on the ethics of hospitality and aesthetics in 19th-century literature, examining how feminine beauty functions within hospitality events through Levinasian and Derridean frameworks. Analysis spans Enlightenment thinkers (Burke, Kant) to Romantic poets (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley) and Victorian novelists (Brontës, George Eliot).
Additionally, Hancock investigates colonial and postcolonial narratives across Pacific and Indian contexts. His work on Kipling analyzes colonial hospitality dynamics, while research on Hawaiian monarchy overthrow (1893) and Pacific representations in Victorian literature explores imperial power structures and cross-cultural encounters.
Hancock's publications reveal evolving focus from early Romantic aesthetics (2005 monograph on sublime) toward contemporary postcolonial applications (2021 Kipling study). A unifying thread examines spatial ethics—how violence, beauty, and gendered subjectivity manifest in contested spaces. His interdisciplinary approach bridges literary criticism, philosophy, and historical analysis.
As an educator, Hancock emphasizes student autonomy: "Helping students learn to learn is, I believe, the heart of the 'Improve' section of the BYUH learning framework." His leadership in organizing the 2015 NAVSA conference in Honolulu demonstrates scholarly engagement beyond campus.
