Etta enjoys taking ideas beyond the university classroom. Whether speaking at a public venue in Missouri, a library in Tuscany, or on the streets of Rome, the subjects she considers are tailored to a group’s interests. She organizes workshops, educational trips, and talks for adults that build from topics she writes and teaches about. Past custom-designed trips for adults have focused on alternative communities and religious practices, American Protestant pilgrims, and American writers abroad. Recent talks, listed below, center on utopian foodways in literature and culture and her new book, Engaging Italy: American Women’s Utopian Visions and Transnational Networks.

Contact Etta to organize a small group trip, a workshop or talk.

Upcoming Events

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Past Events

History in the Margins

March 31, 2021

An interview with author Pamela Toler, History in the Margins, and her women’s history month blog

American Women in Italy – Cancelled due to COVID

November 1, 2020

Talk in Springfield, MO

Science Fiction, Dystopia, And How it Relates to Real Life

October 22, 2020

On this episode of STEM Spots, Dr. Cornelison sits down with Assistant Department Head of the English Department at Missouri State University, Dr. Etta Madden, to discuss science fiction, dystopian literature, and the relevance of those books during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reactions to quarantine and epidemics in Rome

April 1, 2020

The Library Company of Philadelphia’s “Fireside Chats.” Anne Hampton Brewster’s reactions to quarantine and epidemics in Rome. Stream the recording on YouTube or  listen to the podcast.

Talking About Women’s History: Three Questions and an Answer.

March 30, 2020

An interview with  author Pamela Toler, History in the Margins, and her women’s history month blog, “Talking About Women’s History: Three Questions and an Answer.”

The history of science as it intersects with American literature

February 13, 2020

Dave has an in-depth historical discussion with Dr. Etta Madden, an English professor at Missouri State University, about the link between science and literature.

Treacherous Thresholds in Samuel Delany’s Speculative Fiction

September 1, 2019

Italian Association of North American Studies (AISNA) Conference, Ragusa, Italy. 

Plant Science in Gilman and Ozeki: Tendrils of Luther Burbank’s Utopianism

July 1, 2019

Utopian Studies Society (USS) Conference, Prato, Italy. 

A series of writing as therapy workshops

February 1, 2019 - March 31, 2019

With Deborah Cox of Beyond Studio

The Great American Read

March 1, 2018

Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and Cults and Intentional Communities Panel, Springfield-Greene County Library Center