Margot Gayle Backus

Margot Gayle Backus serves as the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of English at the University of Houston within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. A leading scholar of Irish literary studies, she holds joint appointments in the Department of English and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, with extensive contributions to queer theory and postcolonial studies.

Her academic foundation includes a Ph.D. and M.A. in English Literature from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts/Boston. These qualifications anchor her interdisciplinary approach spanning literary criticism, cultural history, and gender studies.

Backus's research centers on British and Irish modernisms with deep engagement in critical sexuality studies and empire studies. Her work interrogates how sexuality, gender, and colonial power intersect in Irish cultural production, particularly examining James Joyce's legacy, queer representation, and trauma narratives. She employs psychoanalytic frameworks to analyze child representation and scandal politics in Anglo-Irish literature, revealing how heteronormativity shapes national identity formation.

Her publication trajectory demonstrates increasing focus on sexual trauma and institutional violence, evolving from early work on gothic family structures to contemporary analyses of child sex scandals in Irish modernism. Recent scholarship shows heightened engagement with disability studies and intersectional approaches to marginalization, while maintaining core commitments to queer theory and postcolonial critique.

• American Conference for Irish Studies Prize for Distinguished First Book (for The Gothic Family Romance)
• Choice Outstanding Academic Title recognition
• Fulbright Distinguished Scholar of Anglophone Irish Writing (2015)
• Ross Lence Award for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities (2007)

Backus has secured continuous research funding including the University of Houston Moores Professorship (2020-2025), multiple CLASS Research Progress Grants, and NEH workshop participation. She actively mentors graduate students through dissertation committees while teaching specialized courses on queer theory and Irish modernism. Her collaborative editing projects with Maria Gonzalez for Voices Breaking Boundaries demonstrate commitment to community-engaged scholarship.

She maintains leadership roles in the Texas Irish Working Group and Queering Ireland initiatives, while her current book project Keeping James Joyce Out of Oscar Wilde’s Purple Trousers investigates queer anecdotes in Joyce scholarship. Backus also contributes to public discourse through affiliations with the Irish Statement in Support of Black Lives Matter.