Peggy McCracken is professor of French and women's studies and associate dean for academic initiatives, Rackham Graduate School. Her teaching and research interests are, broadly defined, in the intersections of medieval literature, history, and theory. Her research focuses on romance narratives as well as on medieval theatre, poetry, chansons de geste, and medical and theological discourses. In earlier projects she has explored the intersections of medieval theories and practices of queenship with romances about adulterous queens, and the ways in which gendered cultural values are mapped onto representations of blood. Current projects include a book on Marie de France, co-authored with Sharon Kinoshita, and a book on animality and embodiment. She is also co-editing, with Karl Steel, an issue of postmedieval devoted to the animal turn in medieval studies, and with E. Jane Burns, a collection of essays titled, Stones, Worms, and Skin: Gender and Embodiment in Medieval Europe.