SAN FRANCISCO — Bushnell University senior Caleb Premo, a teacher education major and English minor, presented original literary research at the 2025 Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference in San Francisco, a regional conference affiliated with the Modern Language Association.
Premo’s paper, “Making Monsters out of Mercy: Grapes of Wrath and the ‘Monstering’ of Altruism,” was accepted into a competitive main-session panel on American literature from 1865 to 1945. He presented alongside a professor emeritus, a senior lecturer, and an assistant professor, an uncommon distinction for an undergraduate scholar.
Caleb Premo (pictured left), sits alongside fellow panelists during a presentation
Caleb Premo presents at the 2025 PaMLA Conference in San Francisco
The 2025 conference brought together more than 1,200 presenters from around the world, most of whom were graduate students, professors, and independent scholars. Although the conference included a designated undergraduate session, only 21 undergraduates presented, and most did so within that forum. Premo instead submitted his abstract to a main-session panel and was one of only four selected to present in that session.
Bushnell English professor Connie Diffenderfer, who has a master’s of philosophy in literature, said Premo’s proposal stood out for its fresh critical approach to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. While scholarship has long examined how migrant workers in the novel are marginalized or “othered,” Premo extended the conversation by applying the central tenets of monster theory. His argument explored how acts of mercy, caring for vulnerable neighbors, and loving one’s neighbor are portrayed as threatening within systems of power. In this reading, altruism itself becomes “monstrous” because of the challenge it poses to entrenched social structures.
Premo’s research developed from coursework in both The American Novel and Social Activism and The Monstrous and The Moral, where he examined Steinbeck’s novel alongside critical theory, especially monster theory. His acceptance into a main-session panel placed him among established scholars and underscored the opportunities available to undergraduates pursuing advanced literary research through Bushnell’s English program.