Kelly A. Minerva

Kelly A. Minerva is an Associate Professor of English at Utica University’s School of Arts & Sciences. She began her role in 2019 and previously taught at Avila University in Kansas City and Lander College for Women, a division of Touro College in Manhattan. Her academic expertise spans postcolonial literature and urban studies, with a focus on modern South Asian and global literary narratives.

• Ph.D. in English and South Asian Studies Collaborative Program, University of Toronto
• M.A. in English, University at Buffalo
• B.A. in English and Philosophy, University of Scranton

Dr. Minerva’s research centers on twentieth and twenty-first-century postcolonial literature, particularly how urban identities and spaces are constructed in South Asian and global contexts. Her work also explores the intersection of social justice with narrative frameworks, emphasizing themes of marginalization and transnationalism.

Her publications reflect a strong focus on postcolonial urbanism, diasporic studies, and transnational narratives. She has contributed to edited volumes such as Postcolonial Urban Outcasts (2017) and Transnationalism, Activism, Art (2013), as well as an encyclopedia entry on Indo-Canadian author Rohinton Mistry (2017). These works highlight her engagement with marginalized urban communities, narrative theory, and cross-cultural literary analysis.

Dr. Minerva teaches courses across literary theory, composition, and global literature, including

• ENG 101 Written Communication I
• ENG 145 Literature in Focus
• LIT 206 World Literature from 1650 to the Present
• LIT 347 Women and Literature
• LIT 358 World Literature in English
• LIT 400 Topics in World Literature: World Cities in Literature
• ENG 500 World Literature in English
• HON 259 Honors Seminar: Invisible Space