This project originated in Professor Mattie Burkert’s UO graduate seminar “Science, Colonialism, and Empire.” In collaboration, the class first created a digital edition of the text – a process that involved transcriptions, corrections, markups and the addition of editorial comments. In a second step, a smaller group used the free audiobook platform “LibriVox” to publish an audiobook of The Female American: Or, the Adventures of Unca Eliza Winkfield.

The students involved were (in alphabetical order): Ashia Ajani, Josiah Basaldua, Kaleb Beavers, Matthew Bicakci, Mattie Burkert, Nikki Cain, Rachel Combs, Kathleen Gekiere, Megan Hayes, Jessie Heine, Honor O’Sullivan, Kimberly Olivar, Rachel Peri, Michele Pflug, Annalise San Juan.

But why this particular text?

The Female American is a thrilling work from the 18^th century that challenges questions of authorship, race, gender and identity, and thereby also what the field of literary studies of the period ought to be concerned with. Thus, it can provide students new insights into and new perspectives on relevant questions of the period. Having both, the digital edition as well as the freely accessible audiobook, considerably increases The Female American’s potential reach. For the students involved in the creation, this project was a great way to engage with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) standards and how to apply them effectively.