mauve perle tahat, phd
Autotheory, architecture, and the afterlives of feeling.
Books
Spatial Residue: Plastic Affects and Configurations of Place (2026)
Spatial Residue: Plastic Affects and Configurations of Place (Bloomsbury Academic 2026) explores how places, whether abandoned malls, haunted swamps, or vintage video games, hold residues of history, feeling, and imagination. Mauve Perle Tahat traces how plastic, as both material and metaphor, shapes our environments and our inner lives, linking the persistence of pollution to the persistence of memory. The book moves across cultural terrains while grounding its analysis in real spaces. Combining autotheory, spatial critique, and cultural analysis, Spatial Residue uncovers how sites of ruin, spectacle, and play reveal deeper truths about survival, resilience, and belonging. It is a book about how we navigate the strange and often dissonant worlds we inherit, and how we might imagine alternative futures from their residues.
Subtle Body Horror:
An Anthology About Having a Body (2026)
Mauve Perle Tahat and Kailey Tedesco serve as editors to this volume (North Meridian Press 2026) on the many insidious lived realities of having a body. From transformation to kinship, the authors offer a multifaceted exploration on the nuances of embodiment happening within a global culture.
Ecologies of Incarceration: Carceral Discard Studies in the Anthropocene (2024)
Ecologies of Incarceration: Carceral Discard Studies in the Anthropocene (Lexington Books 2024) offers a compelling exploration of the intersections between carceral systems, environmental concerns, and political ideologies. This interdisciplinary work examines how prison literature and narrative witness reveal the complexities of our contemporary world, shedding light on the systemic issues that link environmental degradation with carceral practices. With a nuanced analysis of how these intertwined systems impact individuals and communities, drawing on diverse examples to illustrate the broader implications of these interactions, the text offers practical insights for activists and community builders while providing a guide for those seeking to understand and address the challenges of our time through collective action and critical engagement.
I study haunted institutions, environmental grief, strange objects, public memory, and the politics of space.
My work lives in the overlap between scholarship, storytelling, and survival. I’m drawn to things that won’t stay buried (especially the ones we’ve paved over, abandoned, or thrown away). I write for kindred thinkers, students, artists, and curious outsiders. The best theory is porous, a little messy, and rooted in lived experience. I believe in legacy passed down in whispers, notebooks, and glowing screens.
Spatial Residue: Plastic Affects and Configurations of Place (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026), my latest book, is a collision between personal memory, cultural myth, and physical geography. Subtle Body Horror: An Anthology About Having a Body, edited by Kailey Tedesco and myself, is due out in 2026 as well with North Meridian Press. My first monograph, Ecologies of Incarceration: Carceral Discard Studies in the Anthropocene (Lexington Books, 2024) is available wherever books are sold and featured in university libraries worldwide.
Professional-facing bio: Mauve Perle Tahat earned a PhD from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2022, with distinction), MA from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (2015), MEd from Lehigh University (2012), and a BA from Centenary University (2010). Her work spans indie journals, teaching in classrooms, and many blue collar jobs. Tahat works in the service industry and lives in Western Pennsylvania with her kids and spouse.
