Jennifer James

Jennifer James serves as Associate Professor of English at Pacific Lutheran University's College of Liberal Studies, concurrently holding leadership roles as Director of the Native American & Indigenous Studies Program and Chair of the Gender, Sexuality, and Race Studies program.

Her academic credentials include:

• Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University (2012)
• M.A. in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College (2004)
• B.A. in Comparative Literature from Smith College (2001)

Dr. James specializes in post-1945 North American literary traditions with critical focus on race, gender, and sexuality representations. Her scholarship examines cultural memory through narratives of affiliation in post-1960 novels, analyzing how alternative kinship structures negotiate social difference. This research intersects Queer Theory with Comparative Ethnic Studies to reveal how loving friendships function as creative forces in evolving conceptions of identity.

Her recognition includes:

• Karen Hille Phillips Regency Advancement Award for conference paper presentation at the International Baldwin Conference

No documented graduate student advising or research grants are publicly listed. Her teaching portfolio includes American literature surveys (1860-present) with emphasis on post-1945 fiction, plus First Year Experience courses on water politics and place-based writing.