Quindecim

Issue date: 10/13/04 Section: Features

Antje Rauwerda is a new visiting assistant professor in the English department.

Antje Rauwerda, Goucher's new visiting assistant professor of English, has traveled around the globe and lived in Singapore, Great Britain, and Canada. This is the first time she has made the U.S. her home.

Rauwerda was not specifically looking to move to the United States when she applied for the two-year professorship at Goucher. But, she says, when she came for an interview she fell in love with the school, even without having much knowledge of the area. "What did I know about Baltimore except that Homicide was filmed there," she recalled. Fortunately, Rauwerda has found Baltimore to rise above its crime-ridden television portrayal.

A Canadian, Rauwerda attended the University of British Columbia, where she earned an undergraduate degree in international relations. "After getting a degree in international relations, you usually go into law or business," she said. "I was not that practically minded... I thought, 'that sounds like real work!'"

She decided to go back to school, and got a BA in English from the University of Victoria and a Masters and Ph.D. from Queen's University in Ontario. She previously taught at St. Mary's College in Nova Scotia.

Rauwerda specializes in post-colonial literature, a concentration that "is entirely self-indulgent" due to her extensive travels. Her father's job as a petroleum geologist allowed the family to live in such a variety of locations; as a result, Rauwerda speaks French and knows some Spanish and Indonesian.

Rauwerda found it strange to move to the United States in the middle of an election year. "[It's] slightly less politically troubling in Canada," she said. "Canada is very anti-war, and in Canada, elections are not a national obsession. I'm learning a lot about American politics quickly. I feel submerged in American political culture."

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