Deena Varner

Deena Varner is an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University in the Department of English, specializing in carceral studies, cultural studies of the law, and law and literature. She is the author of the 2024 book From the Courtroom to the Boardroom: Privatizing Justice in the Neoliberal United States, which examines the transfer of quasi-judicial authority to private entities.

• PhD in Purdue University

Her research bridges American literature, systemic injustice, and neoliberal governance. Key themes include the intersection of prisons and capitalism, legal discourse in cultural contexts, and racialized spatial practices.

Dr. Varner’s recent publications analyze immigration debates, carceral citizenship, and historical prison systems. She contributes to interdisciplinary dialogues on transdisciplinary education frameworks.

• Advisory Board Member, Carceral Geography Working Group (Royal Geographical Society)
• Book Review Editor, Carceral Geography Working Group

She advises Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honors society, at TTU.