Brian Connolly

Brian Connolly is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in the University of South Florida Department of History. He specializes in interdisciplinary approaches to history, integrating literary criticism and anthropology.

• Education: Ph.D. from Rutgers University (2007)

His research explores the intersections of 19th-century United States history, gender and sexuality studies, psychoanalysis, and critical theory. He has authored the book Domestic Intimacies: Incest and the Liberal Subject in Nineteenth-Century America and co-edited Situation Critical: Critique, Theory, and Early American Studies. Currently, he is working on two book projects: one on sovereignty and kinship, and another on psychoanalysis in contemporary culture.

Connolly’s recent scholarship includes analyses of sovereignty, critical theory, and psychoanalysis. He contributes to journals like Feminist Theory, J19, and History of the Present, where he serves as a founding editor.

His pedagogy emphasizes critical engagement with historical narratives and their contemporary implications, particularly in courses on the history of gender, sexuality, and higher education.