Brigitte Fielder

Brigitte Fielder is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, affiliated with the College of Letters and Science. Her research focuses on 19th-century US literature, early African American literature, children's literature, and intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. She examines topics such as interracial kinship, African American women’s roles in literature and activism, and human-animal relationships, particularly involving birds. Fielder authored Relative Races: Genealogies of Interracial Kinship in Nineteenth-Century America (2020) and contributes to journals like J19: Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists. She has held fellowships from institutions including the American Antiquarian Society and the Idol Family Foundation/Villanova University.

Her work bridges literary analysis with historical and cultural studies, exploring themes like abolitionist movements, racialized childhood representation, and the legacy of slavery. Recent publications include studies on abolition’s afterlives, African American children’s literature, and the cultural significance of birds in narratives of loss and extinction. Fielder serves as a journal editor and contributes to diverse editorial boards, furthering academic discourse on American literature and race.

Fielder’s awards include research grants and editorial roles that highlight her contributions to recovering marginalized voices in literary history. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates animal studies, gender theory, and historical materialism to challenge conventional narratives in American literary studies.