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 91ֿEnglish department encourages its capstone students to research something they are passionate about because, in the words of Dr. Diana Maltz, “the capstone is something you have to live with during senior year.” 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.
“Every capstone project begins with a question. This question is what guides us through reading, analysis, research, and writing—it keeps us going.”
– 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, “The 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.” For Rowan, living in an “Othered” body is like a body horror experience itself, so it felt easy for him to draw parallels between queerness and the monstrous body.
Rowan’s capstone is heavily influenced by Dr. Merrilyne Lundahl’s course, Rhetoric of the Body. Rowan describes the class as “incredibly interesting and beautiful,” as it was one of “the first times [he] was given the language and opportunity to question what [queer people] have been silently taught about [their] own bodies.” He has found that “part of the queer experience is coming to terms with the fact that [queer people] will be inevitably viewed with some disgust, confusion, or fear.” Rowan, in his life and work, fights to find joy and power despite those conceptions.
In addition to being influenced by 91ֿclasses, many pieces of media also influenced Rowan’s capstone project. One in particular was an anime and manga by Mokumokuren. “In The Summer Hikaru Died, a gay teenager’s best friend dies. The friend is replaced by a cosmic, unknowable, monstrous entity wearing his face.” Rowan found “ the complicated depiction of queer desire and how that fits into the world, quite beautiful.”
Blending critical analysis and creative practices has “certainly been interesting.” Rowan shares that the project initially felt intimidating: “I 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.” Over time, however, the research began to shape Rowan’s comic. While researching, Rowan discovered “a wealth of academic discussion on ‘the monstrous queer,” which stems from the idea of “the monstrous feminine.” 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 “time centered around learning to accept [himself] as a queer person. [He is] telling this story because [he] needs to hear it too.” 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’s mini-comic
Rose Alting’s 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: “Coconut by Makhosazana Xaba, which I read in my South African literature class, has become one of my favorite books ever—it was the utmost inspiration for choosing to make this unit plan.” Aside from the book’s poignancy, Rose appreciates “the powerful truth it reveals about the long-lasting effects of South African apartheid.”
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.“Inauthentic narratives commonly glorify the colonizer and promote negative stereotypes,” Rose explains. She believes that if students have an accurate understanding of postcolonialism, this can prevent future ignorance.
One of the project’s main goals is accessibility. While structuring the unit plan, Rose found herself “continuously [heading] into lessons that were far too complex for eleventh graders.” She explains that it is hard to find a balance with these topics: “I don’t want to shy away from the authentic truth of postcolonialism, but I also don’t want to build a lesson that’s unsuited for the age group.” 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: “Young 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.” This is the gist of Rose’s method: “trying to make the content easier to understand by combining new ideas with something students already know.”
“The 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’re taught.”
– Rose Alting
Autumn Price’s capstone focuses on one of literature’s 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 “normalcy” in literature. Autumn “fell in love with Pride and Prejudice while [she] was taking Melissa Anderson’s Jane Austen class.” 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’s interpretation of Mr. Darcy as “Autistic-coded.” Rather than reducing Darcy to awkwardness or pride alone, Autumn argues that many of the novel’s misunderstandings stem from social communication struggles: “Darcy 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’s really cool he gets to be both.” 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’ social awkwardness and fixations: “Mr. Collins tells Elizabeth the exact number of windows at Rosings when they visit in the 1995 mini series. This added dialogue that’s 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.”
While reading criticism, Autumn recognized a gap. “A lot of the criticism [she] read focused on the male characters because women were left out of disability studies for so long.” Autumn was surprised to see that no one included Georgiana in disability readings. She believes re-examining characters is super important because “realizing they are neurodivergent can normalize those identities.” Like Rowan, Autumn hopes neurodivergent readers see themselves reflected in literary history.
“Neurodivergent and Autistic people have always existed! They have a place in literature and literary studies, and they are super fun to talk about!”
– Autumn Price
Although their projects differ dramatically in subject and style, Rowan, Rose, and Autumn’s 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.
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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.
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