Maria O'Malley, assistant professor of English at Briar Cliff University, recently presented a paper at the annual conference of the American Studies Association in Washington, D.C.

At the conference, which was on the practices of citizenship, O'Malley presented her paper, "What We Call a Metaphor in Our Country: Emily Dickinson's Public Sphere," during a panel discussion on the limits of belonging in 19th century literature.

In her presentation, she analyzed an early prose experiment by Dickinson published in Amherst College's student-run literary journal in 1850. In the publication, Dickinson mocks notions of using conversation as means of achieving political reform in early America.

ASA, which has a membership of about 5,000, is an interdisciplinary association of scholars from diverse fields who study the culture and history of America.