Jennifer Griffiths, Ph.D. earned her doctorate in English from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2002 and has taught college literature and writing courses since 1996. As a scholar, Griffiths focuses on African American literature in addition to the interdisciplinary field of trauma studies, specifically in relation to gender, race, and justice. She currently serves as department chair of Humanities, which includes advising the Civic Engagement, Medical Humanities, and Equity and Innovation minors.
Recent Projects and Research
- "Black Children Matter: Risk and Reckoning in 21st-Century African American Literature." African American Literature in Transition in the 21st Century. Ed. Maria Bellamy. Series Editor Joycelyn Moody. Cambridge UP. Invited chapter. Under contract.
Selected Publications
Books/Monographs:
- At Risk: Black Youth and the Creative Imperative in the Post-Civil Rights Era. UP of Mississippi, 2023.
- Traumatic Possessions: The Body and Memory in African American Women's Writing and Performance. University of Virginia Press, 2010. (Reviewed in Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, African American Review, Journal of African American History, MELUS, Obsidian, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies Newsletter (UCLA), Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, and Women's Studies)
Peer Reviewed Articles and Chapters:
- "Review of How to Read African American Literature: Post-Civil Rights Fiction and the Task of Interpretation, by Aida Levy-Hussen." MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S. 43, no. 2 (2018): 232–234.
- "Feminist Interventions in Trauma Studies." Trauma and Literature. Cambridge Critical Concept Series. Ed. J. Roger Kurtz. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
- "Sympathy for the Devil: Resiliency and Victim-Perpetrator Dynamics in Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive." Contemporary Women's Writing 7.1 (2013): 92–110.
- "'My body of a free boy…My body of dance': Violence and the Choreography of Survival in Sapphire's The Kid." Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora. vol 13, no 2 (2012).
- Guest Editor, Special Issue, Violence and Black Youth in the Post-Civil Rights United States Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora. Vol 13, No 2 (2012).
- "Uncanny Spaces: Trauma, Cultural Memory, and the Female Body in Gayl Jones's Corregidora and Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior." Studies in the Novel 38. 3 (Fall 2006).
- "Between Women: The Body, Memory, and Socially-Produced Trauma in Robbie McCauley's Sally's Rape." Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies 26.3 (2005).
Selected New York Tech Box Stories
- News Byte: Jennifer Griffiths, Ph.D., Shares Her Pell Grant Story | Box | New York Tech
- Exploring DEI Through Literature | Box | New York Tech
- Perspectives on Insurrection and Inauguration Aftermath | Box | New York Tech
- Building a Community of Care | Box | New York Tech
- Know Your Rights | Box | New York Tech
Courses Taught at New York Tech
- Speaking Truth to Power: Life Writing and Civic Engagement
- African American Literature
- Global Literature and Human Rights
- Foundations of Research Writing
- Travel Literature
- Special Topics: Outlaws and Outcasts
- Special Topics: The Endangered Child in American Literature
Contact Info