Diaspora studies, postcolonial literatures, feminist theory, queer theory, Black studies, science fiction, Afrofuturism, historical fiction.
My doctoral research utilizes critical frameworks on queer literary representations of the diasporic experience to analyze contemporary novels of the Black diaspora through the lens of Afrofuturist re-imaginings of the past, present, and future. Through the fantastical and haunting fictionalizations of the past, Black diasporic futures are queered and reimagined in the contemporary literary moment, suggesting the key roles of fragmented memory and imagination. I intend to broaden the existing research on the generational and gendered shifts in Afrofuturism and literary re-imaginings of Black futures. I will introduce the intersections between haunting, ghostly, and folkloric imaginings with Queer theories of migration and identity formation, positioning Afrofuturism as the key actor in the literary representation of the queering of the Black diasporas.
