Jodie Miller

Jodie is a Ph.D. Candidate in the French and Francophone Studies section, specializing in medieval French literature. She is interested in the intersections between literature and society, specifically in understanding social and intellectual developments by looking to literature. Her research focuses on French literature within the European context, as well as its broader relationship to other global regions during the medieval period.

She received an M.A. in French and Francophone Studies in 2018 from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with a Master’s thesis, entitled Espaces littéraires et mémoire culturelle autour de la Chanson de la Croisade albigeoise au XIIIème siècle, focusing on memory and cultural identity in the thirteenth-century Chanson de la croisade albigeoise. She has also pursued M.A. studies at the Freie Universität Berlin in Religious Studies (Religionswissenschaft).

Her dissertation explores the underpinnings of trickery in the Old French Roman de Renart, its transmission in medieval Europe, and also considers convergences with the Kalila and Dimna fables. She analyzes the trial scenes of Renart, the fox, and Dimna, the jackal, to better understand both the indirect and direct influence of Kalila and Dimna on the Renardian tradition during its transmission across the Mediterranean and into medieval Europe. Her project proposes that the fox, the jackal, and their trial scenes take part in a global phenomenon dealing with the development of ethical ideals and jurisprudence.