Elijah Two Bears is a PhD student with an Emphasis in Environmental Humanities at the University of California - Davis in the department of English. They received a MA in English Literature with Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern studies from the University of Mississippi. Elijah’s research focused on the overlooked theoretical nexus of queer and trans studies and blue humanities (also known as critical ocean studies) in early modern English literature. They are interested in investigating how using non-normative gender and sexuality (both historical and current) as an experiential and bodily starting place can help us better recognize how aquatic environments require vastly different modes of meaning-making, argument, and experience than land-based spaces where we feel comfortable and at home.