Masami Sugimori

Masami Sugimori is an Associate Professor of American Literature and Program Coordinator for the English MA program at Florida Gulf Coast University's College of Arts & Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas (2009), M.A. from University of Virginia (2002), and B. of Integrated Human Studies from Kyoto University, Japan (1999). His research focuses on intersections between modernist literature, racial passing narratives, and critical race theory. He has published extensively on authors like James Weldon Johnson, Nella Larsen, and William Faulkner, exploring how modernist techniques reflect societal transformations.

Teaching specialties include 20th-century U.S. literature, regional Southern literature, and modernism studies. Courses taught span from introductory literature surveys to advanced seminars on Faulkner/Hemingway/Fitzgerald. His creative writing work explores post-war Japanese cultural identity influenced by U.S. socio-cultural dynamics, with short stories appearing in journals like Cottonwood and Hawai'i Pacific Review.

Current book project: U.S. Passing Fiction and Modernism examines early 20th-century racial passing novels through modernist frameworks. Publications include peer-reviewed articles in MELUS, Faulkner Journal, and book reviews in African American Review. Research interests also encompass literary theory, cultural materialism, and interdisciplinary approaches to race and identity.