Christine Varnado

Christine Varnado is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo, with a joint appointment in the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her research spans early modern British literature, queer theory, and critical race studies, focusing on the intersections of sexuality, race, and materiality in premodern texts.

Her work critically engages with early modern British literature, particularly Shakespeare and Renaissance drama, through the lenses of queer theory, psychoanalytic theory, and new materialism. She investigates themes of embodiment, reproduction, and the historiography of sexuality, while also exploring premodern critical race studies and 17th-century print culture. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges literary studies with gender and sexuality studies, affect theory, and posthumanist thought.

Varnado's recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on queering early modern texts, examining how desire, race, and materiality intersect in works by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Her scholarship often challenges normative frameworks of life and death, sexuality and embodiment, revealing the queerness inherent in premodern literature. Notably, her award-winning article on whiteness in The Merchant of Venice and The Thief of Baghdad exemplifies her innovative methodological approach to critical race studies in early modern contexts.

Her scholarly contributions have been recognized with several prestigious awards and fellowships:

• Shakespeare Association of America Huntington Library Fellowship (2023)
• Huntington Library Short-Term Fellowships (2020, 2023)
• UB Humanities Institute Faculty Fellowship (2021-2022)
• Shakespeare Association of America Innovative Article prize (2021)
• OVPRED Seed Money in the Arts and Humanities Grants (2018, 2024)

While specific details about her advisees are not publicly listed, Professor Varnado has secured competitive research funding, including the OVPRED Seed Money grants in 2018 and 2024, which support innovative projects in the arts and humanities. Her active research agenda, as evidenced by her forthcoming monograph and edited collections, continues to shape conversations in early modern studies and queer theory.