Kathleen Smith’s dissertation, “The Literary Lives of Intention in Late Fourteenth- and Early Fifteenth-Century England,” traces the emergence of the concept of intention from its origins in just war theory and early legal thought to its genesis in spiritual and political transgression and its employment as a formal technique for developing literary character. Her article, “Language and Authority in Julian of Norwich’s Shewings ” will appear in Mulieres Religiosae: Shaping Female Spiritual Authority (Europe, 12th-19th Century) later this year. She currently teaches the course “Women and Culture” at Barnard College and has taught “Literature Humanities” and “University Writing” at Columbia University. Her course “Rebel Voices: From Medieval Peasants to Contemporary Protestors” examines narratives of rebellion and revolution in the Rising of 1381, the French Revolution, and the Arab Spring.
