Comparative Enfreakment: The Lives and Exhibitions of Conjoined Twins in the 19th Century

Samuel Allen is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh with concurrent graduate certificates in Cultural Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. His research focuses on the cultural constructions and negotiations of disability, race, gender, and sexuality in the 19th century. His dissertation, Comparative Enfreakment: The Lives and Exhibitions of Conjoined Twins in the 19th Century, examines how entangled entertainment and medical discourses shaped popular receptions of Chang and Eng Bunker, "The Siamese Twins" and Millie-Christine McKoy, "The Two-Headed Nightingale."

Support for Mr. Allen's fellowship is generously provided by the Lucinda Holderness Wilcox and Benson R. Wilcox Library Fund for the North Carolina Collection.