Irvin Joseph Hunt

Irvin Joseph Hunt is an Associate Professor in both the English and African American Studies departments at the University of Illinois, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He holds the title of Dean's Fellow in Inclusive Excellence. His research focuses on 20th- and 21st-century African American cultural history, cooperative economics, humor studies, and social movement theory. Hunt earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University (2014), an M.A. from UC Berkeley (2007), and a B.A. from Morehouse College (2005). He has been awarded the Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship (2017-18) and a postdoctoral fellowship at Rutgers University (2016-17). His book Dreaming the Present: Time, Aesthetics, and the Black Cooperative Movement (2022) examines how Black artists and activists reimagined time and economics through cooperatives. Hunt teaches courses like Black Literature in America and American Literature after 1945. His recent work explores the intersection of poverty, literature, and the US welfare state.

• Education: Ph.D. Columbia University (2014), M.A. UC Berkeley (2007), B.A. Morehouse College (2005)
• Key Research Areas: African American cultural history, cooperative economics, social movements, performance studies
• Recent Activities: Delivered talks on W.E.B. Du Bois's economic theories (2016), co-edited American Literature special issue on poverty (2020)

His research emphasizes how marginalized communities reimagine economic and temporal frameworks through art and activism. Awards include the Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship and Rutgers postdoctoral fellowship.