Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman

Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman serves as Adjunct Associate Professor of English with cross-appointments in African and Afro-American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University. Her interdisciplinary scholarship bridges literary studies, critical race theory, and feminist frameworks to examine Black cultural production and identity formation.

Her educational background includes:

• Ph.D. from New York University
• M.A. from New York University
• B.A. from Stony Brook University

Abdur-Rahman’s research centers on Critical Race Theory, African American Literature, and Women of Color Feminism, investigating intersections of race, sexuality, and politics in U.S. cultural history. She analyzes transgressive sexualities in slave narratives, Civil Rights-era familial dynamics, and contemporary black aesthetics, developing an "aesthetics of intimacy" that challenges formal realism in diasporic art.

Her scholarly excellence is recognized through:

• Darwin T. Turner Award (twice)
• Ford Foundation Fellowship (2003-2004 & Diversity Postdoc 2008-2009)
• Mellon Foundation Fellowship
• W.E.B Du Bois Institute Fellowship
• American Association of University Women Fellowship

Abdur-Rahman’s first monograph Against the Closet: Black Political Longing and the Erotics of Race (Duke University Press, 2012) examines sexuality in African American literature, while her current project Millennial Style analyzes experimental forms in works by Kara Walker, Octavia Butler, and Wangechi Mutu. Her research has been supported by Woodrow Wilson, JFK Institute, and Shortell-Holzer fellowships.