Stefanie Dunning
Stefanie Dunning
Dr. Stefanie Dunning is an author, scholar, and activist. She is currently a Professor at Miami University, where she teaches and researches African American literature, American literature, cultural studies, nature writing, film, and science fiction. Her authored works include Black to Nature: Pastoral Return and African American Culture and Queer in Black and White: Interraciality, Same Sex Desire, and Contemporary African American Culture.
“Perhaps there is a time, a moment yet to come, when we – as former captives of civilization, newly at one with the natural world – will look back upon the state, which exerted itself to death in attempts to keep us from life, and marvel that it did not succeed” Shape- Stefanie Dunning, 2021.
Dunning, S. K., 2021. Black to Nature: Pastoral Return and African American Culture, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Dunning, S. K., 2009. Queer in Black and White: Interraciality, Same Sex Desire, and Contemporary African American Culture, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Dunning, S. K., 2020. What is the Future? Weirdness and Black Time in Sorry to Bother You, Studies in the Fantastic.
Dunning, S. K., 2020. Learn or Die: Survival and Anarchy in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, Human Contradictions in Octavia Butler's Work, Palgrave/MacMillian.
Dunning, S. K., 2005. Ironic Soil: Recuperative Rhythms and Negotiated Nationalism, African American Review, 38.
Stefanie Dunning received her bachelor’s from Spelman College. She holds a Master’s and Doctorate in English from the University of California at Riverside.
Dr. Dunning is currently a Professor of English at Miami University. Her expertise lies in African American literature, American literature, film and visual culture, literary and cultural studies, nature writing, and science fiction/speculative literature. She has published books along with numerous articles, essays, and reviews. Her works include Black to Nature: Pastoral Return and African American Culture, Queer in Black and White: interraciality, Same Sex Desire, and Contemporary African American Culture, What is the Future? Weirdness and Black Time in Sorry to Both You and The Wounded City: Ambiguous Subjectivity and Riotous Metropolis in Samuel Delany's Dhalgren. Dr. Dunning's expertise has earned her awards, including the Ford Postdoctoral Fellowship and the African American Review award for her essay "Ironic Soil: Recuperative Rhythms and Negotiated Nationalism. She Is currently working on a monograph titled "Other/World(ly): Black Ecologies of (Outer) Space," where she provides a textual analysis of Afrofuturism, temporality, and black ecology.
Dr. Dunning has been fortunate enough to have numerous mentors who have helped her at critical stages in her career. Colleagues from her home institution and in the broader field have assisted her in navigating the profession. She highlights mentoring is essential because only some understand academia and how it works, especially first-generation college students like herself. However, with the help of mentors, Dr. Dunning has accomplished everything she dreamed of in her profession. Therefore, she encourages young professionals to seek out scholars who can provide them with invaluable information and guidance as they navigate their professional lives.
When asked about advice she would give to young professionals considering careers in the field, she states that they need "to recognize the differences between institutional politics and the work done as academics. In other words, our theorizations about society, culture, literature, and the arts," as they "not always imprint upon the institutional structures we engage in way we might like" (2023). While it is essential to navigate with circumspection, Dunning highlights that we should strive to be as creative and accessible as possible when thinking and writing.
Dr. Stefanie Dunning, Associate Professor of English [Photo]. Miami University. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://sites.miamioh.edu/literature/faculty-student-spotlights/faculty-...
Stefanie Dunning. Miami University. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://miamioh.edu/profiles/cas/stefanie-dunning.html
Survey and interviews conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University-School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.
Dr. Stefanie Dunning, Associate Professor of English [Photo]. Miami University. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2023 from https://sites.miamioh.edu/literature/faculty-student-spotlights/faculty-…