Kemeshia Swanson

Kemeshia Randle Swanson, PhD

Associate Professor of English

Education

  • Ph.D., The University of Alabama
  • M.A., The University of Mississippi
  • B.A., Tougaloo College

Research Interests

  • African American Literature
  • American Literature 1865 to Present
  • Southern Literature
  • Women’s Literature
  • Black Feminisms
  • Gender and Sexualities Studies
  • Popular Literature and Culture

Published Articles

  • “Gang Wars: The Academy vs. the Street” (2014)
  • “The Sexless Servant is the Safer Servant: Domesticated Domestics in Stockett’s The Help” (2016)
  • “Lessons Learned, Degrees Earned: Street Literature, Black Bodies, and the Contemporary Academic Classroom” (2018)

Forthcoming Book

Maverick Feminist: To Be Black and Female in a Country Founded Upon Violence and Respectability (University Press of Mississippi)

Favorite Quote and Philosophy

“It is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others – for their use and to our detriment.”

Audre Lorde