Brandon Callender

Brandon Callender is an Assistant Professor at Brandeis University, affiliated with the Department of English and the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. His research bridges Black queer studies and Black horror studies, examining intersections of race, sexuality, and fear in literature and media. Recent courses include Blackness and Horror, Black Joy, and Writing the Nation: James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison.

• PhD, University of California, Berkeley
• B.A., CUNY Hunter College

Callender’s scholarship explores Black queer men’s intimacies, homoeroticism in horror films, and camp interpretations of supernatural texts. His work interrogates how marginalized viewers engage horror genres for cathartic survival narratives and subversive readings. Key publications analyze The Exorcist through Black queer lenses and Joseph Beam’s archival legacy.

Teaching interests span Blackness and Vampires, Blackness and Ghosts, and erotics of slavery in Black men’s literatures. He is developing a second book project on Black queer horror reception, building on his podcast discussions about James Baldwin’s critique of horror films and the catharsis of survival narratives. Callender occasionally appears in media, including an NPR 1A segment on horror’s cultural significance.