Candice M Jenkins

Candice M Jenkins is a Professor of English and Head of the African American Studies program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Duke University and a B.A. from Spelman College. Her research focuses on critical Black feminist analyses of African American cultural texts, exploring themes of racial subjectivity, gender/sexuality politics, and class dynamics. She has authored two books: Private Lives, Proper Relations: Regulating Black Intimacy (2007) and Black Bourgeois: Class and Sex in the Flesh (2019), alongside numerous peer-reviewed articles. Currently, her work extends into Black speculative fiction and Afrofuturist studies through her manuscript project Speculative Pessimisms.

Her teaching includes courses on African American literature, Black speculative fiction, hip hop narratives, and Black feminist theory. She has held editorial roles, including guest-editing a African American Review special issue on 'Hip Hop and the Literary.'

Jenkins’ recent scholarship bridges speculative genres with Afro-Pessimist thought, examining embodiment and vulnerability in contemporary Black narratives. Her publications reflect interdisciplinary engagement with literature, cultural studies, and social theory.

Awards: None explicitly listed in the provided text.

Advising/Grants: No specific student advisees or grant details provided here. She is affiliated with the Department of English and African American Studies program at Illinois.