My areas of specialization are black feminist theories, black popular culture, black women writers, black public culture and hip-hop culture. My work has examined Black women’s interaction in the public sphere via Hip Hop culture. I examine the ways in which Black women use the counter-public sphere of Hip Hop to claim a voice for themselves and to influence the ways in which Black women are represented in both the male dominated space of Hip Hop culture and the larger US society. I use a methodology that combines theories of the public sphere with theories of Black feminisms and Black popular culture to create a lens through which to examine Black women rappers’ interactions within these various spheres. Recently, I have become interested in how Black public culture informs issues of literacy. My new research examines the ways contemporary Black women use gatherings centered on the discussion of literature to influence the literacy experiences of other Blacks and also to influence the representations of Black women in the larger society. I interrogate how Black book clubs both benefit from and risk co-optation by the literary market. Many of the contemporary African American women’s book clubs and reading groups mix their own reading with literacy-based outreach in Black communities. VIEW FULL CV (PDF)



EDUCATION
Ph.D. 2000: Department of English, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
M.A.1994: Department of English, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
B.A. 1992: Department of English, William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey

COURSES TAUGHT
Women’s Studies 310 Feminist Inquiries
Women’s Studies 410 Senior Capstone Seminar
Writing 428/Women’s Studies 400 Black Women and Literacy from Clubwomen to Oprah’s Book Club
CCR 760/Women’s Studies 700 Black Feminist Theories
Women’s Studies 400 Special Topic: Women, Rap, and Hip Hop Feminism

SAMPLE ESSAYS
“Do the Ladies Run This . . .? Some Thoughts on Hip Hop Feminism,” Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century, eds. Rory Dicker and Alison Piepmeier, Northeastern UP, 2003. 232-243.

“Love Feminism, But Where’s My Hip-Hop: Shaping A Black Feminist Identity.” Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, eds. Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman. Seattle: Seal Press, 2002. 85-95.

CURRENT PROJECTS
Reading, Writing and Resisting: Black Women’s Book Clubs and the New Black Fiction (This is a book-length project that looks at contemporary African American Women’s book clubs)

Home Girls Make Some Noise!: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology (This is an anthology that includes critical essays, art, poetry and reflective narratives written by women navigating their identities as feminists involved with hip hop culture. I am co-editing the anthology with Elaine Richardson, Rachel Raimist, and Aisha Durham.

PUBLICATIONS
Books
Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture and the Public Sphere, Northeastern University Press, June 2004

I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, Genesis Press, March 2006 (novel, writing as Gwyneth Bolton)

If Only You Knew, Kimani Press/Harlequin Books, July 2006, (novel, writing as Gwyneth Bolton)

Journal Special Issues
FEMSPEC: an Interdisciplinary Feminist Journal Dedicated to Critical and Creative Works in the Realms of SF, Fantasy. Magical Realism, Surrealism, Myth, Folklore and other Supernatural Genres, Special Issue on Speculative Black Women: Magic, Fantasy, and the Supernatural, co-edited with Yolanda Hood, (November 2005) 6.1.

Selected Articles
“’Each One, Pull One’: Womanist Rhetoric and Black Feminist Pedagogy in the Writing Classroom.” Rhetorica Redefines Theory and Practice: Teaching Women’s Rhetorics, eds. Kate Ronald and Joy Ritchie. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann-Boynton/Cook. Forthcoming 2006.

“Rhetoric That Should Have Moved the People: Rethinking the Black Panther Party,” African-American Rhetoric(s): Interdisciplinary Perspectives, eds. Ronald Jackson and Elaine Richardson. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP. 2004. 59-72.

“Personal Narrative and Rhetorics of Black Womanhood in Hip-Hop.” Rhetoric and Ethnicity, eds. Keith Gilyard and Vorris Nunley. Protsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Boynton/Cook. 2004. 111-118.

“Do the Ladies Run This . . .? Some Thoughts on Hip Hop Feminism,” Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century, eds. Rory Dicker and Alison Piepmeier, Northeastern UP, 2003. 232-243.

“Confronting and Changing Images and Representations of Black Womanhood in Rap Music.” Get It Together: Readings about African American Life, eds. Akua Duku Anokye and Jacqueline Brice-Finch. New York: Longman Publishers, 2003. 81-84.

“Love Feminism, But Where’s My Hip-Hop: Shaping A Black Feminist Identity.” Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, eds. Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman. Seattle: Seal Press, 2002. 85-95.

“Empowering Rhetoric: Black Students Writing Black Panthers.” College Composition and Communication 53:3 (2002) 466-486.

“Seeds and Legacies: Tapping the Potential in Hip-Hop,” Doula: The Journal of Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture 1:2 (2001) 26-29.