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Biography

My scholarship stems from my interest in how wars (the Civil War; a science-fiction robot apocalypse; the "war on drugs"; the war against "aliens" breaching national security) shape American narratives about both the victors and the oppressed. I am particularly interested in Black representation across these different narratives. My work explores not just historical memory, but also the ethics of rewriting and remembering war as pleasurable or beautiful; the exploitation of Black and brown bodies; and how multicultural futures have been imagined. These are all vital questions that drive our current discourse about American citizenship, equality, and national history. 

In the classroom, my goals are for students to gain an understanding of the historical context surrounding a text; to improve their ability to perform close readings; and to construct an original argument--verbal as well as written--for their interpretation of a text. Most of my courses include poetry, drama, fiction, and film/television so that students can see how each genre raises new questions about the relationships between form, content, and expression.

I currently live in Worcester but am a proud Baltimore native. I'm an avid sports fan, film and television viewer, and traveler. I always welcome new recommendations of what to see or where to go.

Published Work

Review of Of One Blood; or, The Hidden Self by Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, edited by Eurie Dahn and Brian Sweeney. Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, Vol. 40 Nos. 1-2 (2023): 266-268. 

‘Miss T’rèse’s System’: At Fault and Antebellum Nostalgia.” Solicited chapter in The New View from Cane River: Critical Essays on Kate Chopin’s At Fault, Ed. Heather Ostman, LSU Press, 2022, pp. 64-83.

“‘Border-Perforating Catastrophes’: The Failure of Border Security in The City & The City and The Bridge.” Chapter for the 2014 MESEA [Society for Multiethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas] Conference collection, Border Crossings: Literary Approaches and Negotiations, Ed. Astrid Fellner. Nomos Press [Germany], 2021, pp. 131-149.

“‘Can You Kill’: Vietnam, Black Power, and Militancy in Black Feminist Literature.” Solicited chapter in Black Cultural Production After Civil Rights, Ed. Robert J. Patterson. University of Illinois Press, 2019, pp. 119-138. [Collection named a Choice “Outstanding Academic Title for 2020”]
 

Clubs and Organizations

• MLA (mla.org)
• MELUS (melus.org)
• AAUP (aaup.org)
• Popular Culture Association (pcaaca.org)