Kya Mangrum

Dr. Kya Mangrum is an Assistant Professor of English at Westmont College, specializing in 19th-century U.S. Literature, African American Literature, and Visual Culture Studies. She holds a PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University. Her research focuses on the intersection of U.S. slavery, narrative forms, and photographic technologies.

Dr. Mangrum's current book project, How Deep and Dark: Slavery, Photography, and the Limits of Narrative, examines how 19th-century visual technologies influenced the development of immersive slave narratives. This work argues that these narratives prefigured modern immersive storytelling techniques like film and digital media, reshaping how enslaved individuals' experiences were documented and disseminated.

Her teaching emphasizes the contributions of writers of color, particularly African American and Indigenous authors of the long 19th century. She has held office space in RH 101 and can be reached at kmangrum@westmont.edu.