Kinitra Brooks

Kinitra Brooks is an Associate Professor and Audrey & John Leslie Endowed Chair in Literary Studies at Michigan State University's Department of English, where she also directs graduate programs. Her work bridges literary studies, popular culture, and critical race/gender studies. She holds affiliations with Harvard University’s Hutchins Center (2018-2019) and Harvard Divinity School (2022-2023 as Visiting Associate Professor Emerita).

Her research focuses on Black women’s representation in horror, Afrofuturism, and Beyoncé’s cultural impact. Notable projects include Searching for Sycorax (2017), The Lemonade Reader (2019), and an upcoming Beyoncé Renaissance anthology. She co-edited Sycorax’s Daughters, an anthology of Black women’s horror fiction.

Brooks appears in the 2023 PBS documentary Afrofantastic: The Transformative World of Afrofuturism and frequently contributes to media discussions on NPR’s 1A and other platforms. Her awards include a Bram Stoker Award nomination.

Current projects include Red Dirt Witch, a graphic novel about Civil Rights-era Conjure Woman activism, and interdisciplinary work on Beyoncé’s cultural legacy. She has advised multiple graduate students in English and African American studies programs.

Her teaching and scholarship emphasize public engagement, with courses on Black horror, pop culture, and Afrofuturism. She leads the Integrative Arts & Humanities initiative at MSU, fostering cross-disciplinary arts education.