Jeffrey Allen Tucker
(CV)Associate Professor of English
PhD Princeton University
African-American literature, 20th-century American literature, science fiction
Research/Writing interests
Jeffrey Tucker studies literature as a context for discussions about postmodernism, cultural and identity politics, and racial representation. Much of his research has addressed the genre of science fiction. His current projects include articles on technology and identity in novels by Octavia E. Butler as well as a study of the life and writings of John A. Williams. Jeffrey Tucker also serves as director of the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies.
Selected publications
- A Sense of Wonder: Samuel R. Delany, Race, Identity, and Difference, Wesleyan 2004
- Race Consciousness: African-American Studies for the New Century, NYU 1997 (co-editor)
- “The Human Contradiction: Identity and/as Essence in Octavia E. Butler’s Xenogenesis Series,” in Yearbook of English Studies 37.2 (2007), 164-81
- “Contending Forces: Racial and Sexual Narratives in Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren,” in Science Fiction: Critical Frontiers, St. Martin’s 2000
Teaching
Courses in African-American fiction, drama, and autobiography; science fiction; and postmodernism
Recent undergraduate courses
- The Harlem Renaissance (spring 2009)
- Science Fiction (fall 2008)
- Slavery and the 20th-Century African-American Novel (spring 2008)
- Comic Books (fall 2007)
- African-American Drama (fall 2007)
- The Outsider in Literature (spring 2007)
- Introduction to African-American Literature (spring 2007)
Recent graduate courses
- The Africanist Presence in American Literature (fall 2008)
- The African-American Postmodern
Honors
- G. Graydon and Jane W. Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Rochester
- Bridging Fellowship, College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, University of Rochester
- Du Bois-Mandela-Rodney Post-Doctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan Center for Afroamerican and African Studies
- Summer Stipend Award, National Endowment for the Humanities
