ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2018-Present
University of Stuttgart
Lecturer and Research Associate (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter)
2017-2018
University of Stuttgart
Adjunct Instructor (Lehrbeauftragter)
PUBLICATIONS / CONFERENCE PAPERS, BOOK CHAPTERS, AND PRESENTATIONS
Book Chapters and Journal Articles:
"Gothing the Blues: The Afrogothic, the Afrosurreal and Transcending the Blue Devils in the Work of Jean Toomer and Bob Kaufman." Journal of American Studies, (2025): 1–18. Web.
"Du Bois and the Double-Voiced Speech: Contextualizing Classical Education from Both Sides of the Veil," America Studies / Amerikastudien, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 45-61.
"The Expansive Vision of Jessie Fauset," Women in Publishing: 1900-2020, edited by Nicola Wilson, et. al., Edinburgh University Press, 2024, pp. 308-322.
"Knotting the Note to the Tone," The Black Scholar, vol. 53, no. 2, 2023, pp. 58-70, DOI: 10.1080/00064246.2023.2177974
"Billie Holiday and the Black Arts Movement." Black Perspectives [online], December 22, 2022, AAIHS.
"Transnational Aesthetics in "Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro." Siècles [online], no. 51, 2021.
"A Magnificent Blond Beast: Exploring the Implications of Harlem Renaissance Writer Wallace Thurman as Ghostwriter of a Forgotten Celebrity Gossip Memoir." Polish Journal for American Studies Special Issue: Digital Humanities in American Studies, edited by Michal Choiński, vol. 14 (Autumn 2020), pp. 225-242.
"The Cotton-Gin Effect: An Afrofuturist Reading of Star Trek: Discovery." Fighting for the Future: Essays on Star Trek: Discovery, edited by Sabrina Mittermeier and Mareika Spychala, Liverpool University Press, June 2020.
"Oops Upside Yr Head: Black Speculative Fiction, Authenticity & the Political Metaphysics of Stick Fighting in Olufemi Terry's 'Stickfighting Days.'" Callaloo, vol. 41, no. 3, summer 2018, pp. 145-156.
"Bleeding Past the Margin: A Review of Thomas Pynchon's Bleeding Edge." GC Advocate, October 2013.
Conference Papers and Presentations:
"Recovering Our Words and Songs- The Intersection of Art, the Academy and Activist Publishing." The 2023 American Studies Association Annual Meeting: Solidarity: What Love Looks Like in Public. American Studies Association (ASA), Le Centre Sheraton Montreal, November 2-5, 2023.
"The Image Remains: Ezra Pound's Des Imagistes in the 21st Century," 30th Ezra Pound International Conference: Ezra Pound and the Legacy of The Cantos, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 27-30, 2023.
Chair, "Contemporary Gothics: African American Fiction" American Literature Association: 34th Annual Conference on American Literature, May 25-27, 2023.
"Black Beats: The Afro-Gothic Origins of the Beat Movement" American Literature Association: 34th Annual Conference on American Literature, May 25-27, 2023.
"Wheel Whirling in the Middle of a Wheel: A Reading from Harlem Mosaics by Whit Frazier." Annual Zora Neale Hurston Virtual Conference: Woman on Fire, The College of Arts and Humanities, Bethune-Cookman University, February 16-17, 2023.
"From Harlem to Bronzeville: Deprovincializing Black Literary Movements." The 33rd Annual American Literature Association Conference, American Literature Association (ALA), Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL, May 26-28, 2022.
"The Fire Next Time: Fire!! Magazine: A Hundred Years Later." 41st Conference of the Portuguese Association for Anglo-American Studies. Portuguese Association of American Studies, May 20-21, 2021.
"The Anthology as Meta-Syllabus: Combining German and Anglophone Approaches to Canon Studies," Guest Lecture Presentation, University of Washington, Department of Germanistics, February 19, 2021.
"Transnational Aesthetics in 'Harlem Mecca'" Transnational Periodical Cultures: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. University of Mainz, Germany, January 29-31, 2020.
"Black Speculative Literature as Collective Aesthetic Revolution." The 2019 American Studies Association Annual Meeting. American Studies Association (ASA), Hawai'i Convention Center, Honolulu HI, November 7-10, 2019.
"The Afrofuturist Historical Novel." The 30th Annual American Literature Association Conference, American Literature Association (ALA), Westin Copley Hotel, Boston, MA, May 23-26, 2019.
"The Panther and the Lash: Black Literary Movement Publications and the Black Aesthetic," Intentionally Digital, Intentionally Black, African American History, Culture and Digital Humanities Conference, University of Maryland, October 18-20, 2018. Digital Poster Presentation.
"The Black Arts Movement and the Esoteric Afrofuturism of Sun Ra," American Cultures of Dissent, American Studies Leipzig Grad Conference 2018, University of Leipzig, April 28-29, 2018.
COURSES TAUGHT
Oct 2023 - Present
University of Stuttgart
Black Postmodernism
Apr 2023 - July 2023
University of Stuttgart
American Transcendentalism
Apr 2022 - July 2022
University of Stuttgart
Afrofuturism: Theory and Literature
Apr 2021 - July 2021
University of Stuttgart
American Modernism
Apr 2020 - July 2020
University of Stuttgart
African American Literature
Apr 2019 - July 2019
University of Stuttgart
The Beat Generation
Apr 2019 - Present
University of Stuttgart
American Cultural Studies
2018-Present
University of Stuttgart
Case Studies in American Literature
2018-Present
University of Stuttgart
Introduction to Literary Studies
2017 - Present
University of Stuttgart
Essay Writing
2017-2018
University of Stuttgart
Translation
2013-2018
Volkshochschule Stuttgart
English
PEER-REVIEWING FOR JOURNALS
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Literature Association (ALA)
American Studies Association (ASA)
African American Literature and Culture Society (AALCS)
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerkastudien/ German Association for American Studies (DGfA/GAAS)
Ezra Pound Society
The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
EDUCATION
2018-2023
University of Stuttgart
PhD: Summa Cum Laude, American Studies
2015-2017
University of Stuttgart
Master of Arts, English
1994-1998
St. John's College
B.A., Liberal Arts
1990-1994
Richard Montgomery HS
International Baccalaureate