Jennifer Wenzel

Professor Jennifer Wenzel holds joint appointments in the Department of English and Comparative Literature and the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. She is also an affiliate of the Columbia Climate School. Her research integrates postcolonial theory, environmental humanities, and energy studies, with a focus on decolonization, African/South Asian literatures, and fossil fuel imaginaries.

Education: B.A. in English and History (Austin College, 1990); M.A. in English (Indiana University, 1992); Ph.D. in English/Ethnic and Third World Literatures (University of Texas at Austin, 1998).

Research Interests:

• Energy humanities and fossil fuel critique
• Environmental justice and planetary crises
• Postcolonial literatures and anticolonial movements
• Decolonial epistemologies

Notable Works:

• Bulletproof: Afterlives of Anticolonial Prophecy in South Africa and Beyond (2009)
• The Disposition of Nature: Environmental Crisis and World Literature (2019)
• Co-editor of Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment (2017)

Awards: Honorable Mention for Perkins Prize (2009), ASAP Book Prize Finalist (2020), Ecocriticism Book Prize Shortlist (2022), and fellowships from Mellon Foundation, ACLS, and NEH.

Current Projects: "The Fossil-Fueled Imagination: How and Why to Read for Energy" and co-director of the Society of Fellows Governing Board.

Labs/Teams: Active in the After Oil Collective and Columbia Climate School initiatives.