Mariana Akawi is a doctoral student in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies Postcolonial literature, Victorian studies, and novel history/theory. She is especially interested in studying paratextual and archival references in the realist novel and in exploring the ways in which nineteenth-century works of literature continue to shape our reading and writing practices today. 

Mariana received a BA in English and Political Sciences and an MA in English Literature from the University of Haifa, where she was the recipient of the Council for Higher Education Excellence Fellowship for Arab Students, as well as of the New Questions in Postcolonial Studies Fellowship. At Haifa, Mariana worked as a Teaching Assistant for the introductory Theory and Criticism course. In addition, she had previously taught an English for Academic Purposes class to Arabic and Hebrew speakers.

As a multi-lingual and non-native reader/writer of English, Mariana is interested in fostering conversations about how we can make the English Department an accessible space for a wider and more diverse network of Anglophone readership.