Skip to main content

English

  1. UH Home
  2. College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
  3. Department of English
  4. People
  5. Faculty
  6. Haylee Harrell

Faculty

Haylee Harrell

Assistant Professor

Professor Harrell
Education
Research Interests
Courses Taught
Publications

Dr. Haylee C. Harrell (they/them) is a Black feminist theorist working at the intersections of Critical Black Studies, feminist philosophy, sexuality studies, speculative fiction and theories, and 20th-21st African American and Interracial Literature. Dr. Harrell is an active part of the Critical Studies of the Americas collective and affiliated faculty of African American Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and the Media and Moving Image Program. Their primary goal as a black feminist theorist is to encourage students to creatively engage with questions of gender and sexuality through the lens of blackness. As a first-generation student (undergraduate and graduate), Dr. Harrell is passionate about creating a learning environment where students not only explore topics of race/gender/sexuality but also what medium or form—artistic, creative, academic, or a mixture—they feel most confident expressing their research. 
 

Education:  

  • Ph.D., Emory University, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 
  • B.A., University of Utah, English 
     

Research Interests: 

  • Black Feminist Theory 
  • Black Studies 
  • African American Literature 
  • Affect Studies
  • Gender and Feminist Theory 
  • Sexuality Studies 
  • Foucault Studies 
  • Feminist Philosophy 

 

Courses Taught: 

  • ENGL 3301: Introduction to Literary Studies [The Real and Imaginary Monster]
  • ENGL 3360: Survey of African American Literature [Literature of the Color-Line]
  • ENGL: 3354: Contemporary American Fiction [Interracial Intimacies in American Literature Post-Loving v. Virginia]
  • ENGL 7386: Critical Studies of the Americas Theories and Methods [Engendered Histories: Writing the Archive in Black Literature]
  • ENGL 7396: Topics in Language and Literature [Thinking Black Feminism Otherwise]

Publications

  • From the shadows: An ode to Patricia J Williams’s Alchemy of Race and Rights. Feminist Theory, 26(3), 597-603. https://doi.org/10.1177/14647001251326756 (Original work published 2025)

  • black Foucault: An Intellectual Reparations Project. Foucault Studies, vol. 37, 2025, p. 5-34. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/fou.00003.