Vallaire Wallace

Assistant Professor of English

Expertise

Black Studies, Black Feminisms, Queer Studies, 20th Century American Literature, Transnational and Global South Studies, Disability Studies

Vallaire Wallace is Assistant Professor of English at Southwestern University. She teaches courses in African American literature, popular culture, and Black queer studies.

Her teaching emphasizes the interplay between critical theory, cultural texts, and everyday practices of media literacy. She earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia in 2025, where she was a member of the Society of Fellows.

  • Biography

    Vallaire Wallace is Assistant Professor of English at Southwestern University. She teaches courses in African American literature, popular culture, and Black queer studies.

    Her teaching emphasizes the interplay between critical theory, cultural texts, and everyday practices of media literacy. She earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia in 2025, where she was a member of the Society of Fellows.

  • Research

    Her research explores Black queer literature, migration, expatriation, and the politics of movement.

    She is at work on her first book project, The New Migration: Black Queer Literature and the Politics of Movement, interrogating questions about the relationship between Blackness, expatriation, celebrity and the archive. Her broader interests include African American literature, queer of color critique, diaspora studies, and popular culture.

  • Publications

    • “Something Queer Here: Princes, Powers and Heteronormativity Abroad in James Baldwin’s Princes and Powers,” Callaloo (accepted).

    • Review of Anna-LaQuawn Hinton’s Refusing to Be Made Whole: Disability in Black Women’s Writing, MELUS (accepted)

    • “Queens College, Freedom Summer, and Me: Self-Discovery in Archives,” in The Children of the People: Writings by and about CUNY Students on Race and Social Justice, ed. Grace M. Cho, Robin McGinty, and Rose M. Kim (2022).

  • Works

    • The New Migration: Black Queer Literature and the Politics of Movement (book manuscript in progress).

    • Articles in progress on Nicolás Guillén and Langston Hughes, and on Zora Neale Hurston’s life in letters.

  • Presentations

    • “Imperfect Bodies: On Audre Lorde, Global Black Feminism and Cancer.” National Women’s Studies Association Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2025.

    • “Travel Is Not A Luxury: On Audre Lorde’s Burst of Light, Cancer, and Black Women’s (In)Visibility.” Modern Language Association Conference, New Orleans, 2025.

    • “Exploring Blackness and Translation with Nicolás Guillén and Langston Hughes.” Caribbean Studies Association Conference, St. Lucia, 2024.

    • “‘Something Queer Here’: Princes, Powers and Heteronormativity Abroad.” James Baldwin Symposium, Morgan State University, 2024.

    • “Viva La Revolution: Exploring Black TransAtlantic Connections in Nicolás Guillén and Langston Hughes.” American Studies Association Conference, Montreal, 2023.