Laura Harris

Laura Harris

Professor of English and World Literature and Africana Studies

With Pitzer Since: 1997
Field Group: English and World Literature, Africana Studies
Campus Address: Avery 218
Phone: 909.607.3633
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: See Faculty Directory

Educational Background

PhD, University of California, San Diego
BA, San Diego State University

Research Interests

20th century African American literature and culture, Feminist and Queer Theory, Harlem Renaissance Studies, African Diaspora Studies, Performance Studies

Recent Courses

Introduction to African American Literature (AFRI ENG12A & B)

Black Queer/Trans Diasporas Research Workshop (AFRI ENG 132)

B(L)ack to Nature: Poetry & Theory (AFRI 120)

Selected Publications

“Aliso Street Worship Corner,” Calyx: A Journal of Art and Literature By Women, vol. 31 no. 1, pg 86, winter/spring 2019

Professor Harris spoke about racism in the fashion industry in the Hypebeast article “Why Virgil at Vuitton Only Begins to Combat Industry Racism,” May 4, 2019.

“What’s in a name?” That which we call brilliance by any other name would read as Festus Claudius McKay” invited book review for Radical History Review, “Re-Conceptualizing the African Diaspora,” issue 103. Editors Michelle Stephens, Melina Pappademos, and Erica Ball, Duke University Press, Winter 2009.

Hybrid Italians, Diasporic Africans: Who’s/Whose Meticcio?” Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts & Letters 31.2. Editor Charles H. Rowell. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, Spring 2008.

“Confessions of the Pillow Queen: Sexual Receptivity & Queer Femininities,” in MaryMcAuliffe and Sonja Tiernan, eds., Tribades, Tommies, and Transgressives: Histories of Sexualities: Volume I.University College Dublin: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008.

“On Teaching A Black Queer Harlem Renaissance.” Teaching the Harlem Renaissance: Course Design and Classroom Strategies. Editor Michael Soto. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, African American Literature and Culture Series: Expanding and Exploding the Boundaries, Vol.16, Spring 2008.

“My Boy,” in G. Winston James, ed., Voices Rising: Celebrating Twenty Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Writing. Washington, DC: RedBone Press, 2007.

Notes from a Welfare Queen in The Ivory Tower: poetry, fiction, letters, and essays. New York: Face to Face Press. Fall 2002.

“L’Abbandono: chi e meticcio, e di chi, nella diaspora eritreo-italiana?” (abridged version in Italian translation). Africa Italia: Due continenti si avvicinano. Editor Sante Matteo. Milano, Italy: Fara Editore. Spring 2000.

Femme: Feminists, Lesbians, and Bad Girls. Edited and Introduced by Laura Harris and Liz Crocker. New York: Routledge. Summer 1997.

“Queer Black Feminism: The Pleasure Principle.” Feminist Review 54. Editor Merl Storr. London: Routledge. 1996.

Recent Conferences and Invited Talks

“Exorcising Dispossession: Black Womxn’s Activism/Joy/(Re)possession,” Invited Presentation for NWSA Panel: Unreading Dispossession Through Black Womxn’s Activism, National Women’s Studies Association Conference, Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Tower 3, 4th Floor, Union Square 21, 2019

Invited Workshop Organizer, “Birdwatching: Witnessing the Creative,” Fire & Ink IV: Witness, Detroit, Michigan, October 2015.

Invited Member Archivo QueerItalia/Queer Archive Italy, Feminist and Queer Theory Online Platform, London, England, September 2015.

Invited Chair, “All the Way Live”: The Aesthetics of Pleasure in California Funk
American Studies Association, Los Angeles, Ca. November 2014.

Invited Roundtable Panelist, “Academic Abolitionism: Native/Women of Color Feminist/Queer of Color Learning and Living Beyond the (Re)Production of Death,” UC San Diego, LaJolla, California, May 2014.

Invited Guest Queer Faculty Symposium, “Faith & Birdwatching,” Faculty writing project reading and discussion. Queer Resource Center Pomona College, Ca. April 2012.

“On Theorizing a Black Queer Harlem Renaissance,” paper presented at The Harlem Renaissance Revisited: Politics, Arts, and Letters, University of Connecticut, March 2008.

Invited Plenary Speaker, Feminisms in the Twentieth Century: Lessons for the Twenty-first Century, The Huntington Library Women’s Studies Seminar Series, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, March 2008.

Invited Plenary Speaker, Feminisms in the Twentieth Century: Lessons for the Twenty-first Century, The Huntington Library Women’s Studies Seminar Series, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, March 2008.

Selected Awards, Grants and Honors

Honor award for Faculty Contributions to 5 Colleges’ Queer Community, Lavender Graduation, Queer Resource Center, Pomona College, Spring 2012

Honor award for Faculty Contributions to 5 Colleges’ Queer Community, Lavender Graduation, Queer Resource Center, Pomona College, Spring 2007

Notes From A Welfare Queen In The Ivory Tower: poetry, fiction, letters, and essays. Nominated for the American Library Association Stonewall Book Award, 2002.

Additional Information

Curriculum Vitae

Page last updated on December 4, 2023