Benjamin Woodring

Benjamin Woodring is a Ph.D. Candidate in English at Harvard University. His dissertation examines spaces of refuge as they are imagined and represented in Shakespearean England. He investigates what a place of last resort meant to an early modern Londoner, in theory and in practice. He argues that Renaissance dramatists are fascinated with sanctuaries—areas that release one, if only temporarily, from the grip of one’s immediate political and social milieu. He also analyzes the legal and ecclesiastical institutions of “sanctuary” and their controversial post-Reformation afterlives, contending that these semi-autonomous zones speckled throughout the city served as reminders of authority’s fragility. Benjamin holds a B.A. from Brandeis University with majors in Classics, Economics, and English, as well as an A.M. in English from Harvard University. He served from 2010 to 2011 on the President of Harvard’s Graduate Student Council (representing the university’s roughly 3500 doctoral students across its various programs and schools) and is currently a member of the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility for the President and Fellows of Harvard College.