Ryan Plumley began his study of European intellectual history in an inter-disciplinary context as an undergraduate at Rice University.  Both there and in his subsequent graduate work at Cornell University, he was deeply influenced by critical theory and gender studies.  He received his PhD in history from Cornell in January, 2009.  His dissertation, "The Romantic Subject of Textuality: German Literate Culture in the Late Eighteenth Century," focused on how the German Romantics tried to make practices of reading and writing into modes of constituting the self and its relation to collectivities. 

In general his scholarly work focuses on how intellectual community emerges out of literary and philosophical texts.  One of his current research interests is the idea of a global, cosmopolitan intellectual community, particularly in the postcolonial context.  Ryan is also interested in the theory and history of education, of reading, and of knowledge production.  More generally, his work takes as its departure the interconnections between literary studies, philosophy, and history.

Ryan is an experienced teacher, having taught in a number of capacities at Cornell, including as a seminar leader and writing instructor.  In his classes he strives to create an animated and open-minded context in which intense engagement with specific works sustains wide-ranging reflection.