Year of Award
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Degree Name
Creative Writing (Nonfiction)
Department or School/College
English Department
Committee Chair
Brian Blanchfield
Committee Co-chair
Chris Dombrowski
Commitee Members
James Bailey
Keywords
Image Study, Prose, Queer, Sexual Abuse and Recovery
Subject Categories
Nonfiction
Abstract
Mayah DeMartino’s MFA thesis, My Body an Understudy, is an auto-theoretical prose investigation that balances critical research and scholarship, original visual art, and lyric essay storytelling. The project integrates a broad scope of outside topics ranging from volcanology, contemporary horror films, early child development, addiction, and gender theory as a means to better understand the self as affected by trauma, both personal and familial. My Body an Understudy is experimental both in form and in content and seeks to queer the traditional form of the contemporary trauma narrative. The project moves between scholarly exposition, scenes in memoir, and intertwined reflection, which culminates in a body of work that ultimately asks its reader to consider the resulting effects and alterations that often follow traumatic events.
Recommended Citation
DeMartino, Mayah E., "My Body an Understudy" (2026). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12748.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12748
© Copyright 2026 Mayah E. DeMartino