Education

• Ph.D. 2014 The University of Alabama 
• M.A. 2009 The University of Mississippi
• B.A. 2007 Tougaloo College 

Teaching and Research Interests

• 20th/21st Century African American Literature
• Southern Literature
• Gender and Sexuality Studies
• Hip Hop and Popular Culture

Dr. Kemeshia Randle Swanson hails from the Mississippi Delta and holds a joint appointment in English and African American Studies at MSU. Her research interests include 20th and 21st Century African American literature, Southern literature, gender and sexuality studies, and Hip Hop and popular culture. She coined the term maverick feminist and particularly enjoys reading, writing about, and teaching the works of resilient African American authors, Black women in particular, who reject respectability politics and practice their humanity unapologetically. As such, her upcoming projects turn a careful eye towards race, sexuality, class, intimacy, and activism in the works of two-time National Book Award winner and Mississippi native Jesmyn Ward.

Manuscripts

Love and War: Intimacy and Activism in the Works of Jesmyn Ward. University Press of Mississippi. Under Contract. Expected 2026.

Maverick Feminist: To Be Black and Female in a Country Founded Upon Violence and
Respectability. University Press of Mississippi, March 26, 2024.

Edited Collections

Conversations with Jesmyn Ward, Editor. University Press of Mississippi. Under Contract. Expected 2025.

The Oxford Handbook on American Street Literature, Co-Editor. Oxford University Press. Under Contract. Expected 2026.

Book Chapters

“Gang Wars: The Academy vs. the Street.” Street Lit: Representing the Urban Landscape, edited by Keenan Norris, Scarecrow Press, 2014, pp. 9-18.

“The Sexless Servant is the Safer Servant: Domesticated Domestics in Stockett’s The Help.” Like One of the Family: Domestic Workers, Race, and In/Visibility in The Help, edited by Fiona Mills, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, pp. 143-158.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

“A Southern Song for My People: Seeing Self in the Works of Jesmyn Ward.” Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival 50th Anniversary, special issue of Callaloo Journal, Forthcoming, 2024.

“Lessons Learned, Degrees Earned: Street Literature, Black Bodies, and the Contemporary Academic Classroom.” Literature and Hip Hop, special issue of Words, Beats, and Life: The Global Journal of Hip Hop Culture, edited by Keenan Norris, 2019.

Maverick Feminist: To Be Female and Black in a Country Founded upon Violence and Respectability

Conversations with Jesmyn Ward

• Eudora Welty Prize Winner, 2024 for Maverick Feminist: To Be Female and Black in a Country Founded Upon Violence and Respectability 
• MAAH (Museum of African American History) Stone Book Award Nomination, 2024 for Maverick Feminist: To Be Female and Black in a Country Founded Upon Violence and Respectability