Michael Kramp

Michael Kramp is Professor of English at Lehigh University's College of Arts and Sciences, where he has taught since 2010. He serves in the Department of English with significant involvement in both the Film and Documentary Studies program (which he directed as its inaugural director) and the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program. Kramp completed his PhD at Washington State University in 2000 and previously taught at the University of Northern Colorado before joining Lehigh.

His scholarly research focuses on four main interconnected areas: men and masculinity studies, Jane Austen scholarship, critical theory with emphasis on nation-gender-race relationships, and visual culture particularly film and early photography. Kramp's work examines the cultural work of literary and visual texts—what these texts do and how they interact with our worlds. He has written extensively on Jane Austen while exploring critical questions of national, racial, and gendered identity through literary, photographic, and filmic representations. His forthcoming book Patriarchy's Creative Resilience (Routledge, 2024) investigates the sustainability of white male supremacy through late-Victorian speculative fiction.

Kramp's recent publications reveal consistent engagement with masculinity studies across historical and contemporary contexts, examining everything from Jane Austen's paternalistic men to Trump-era masculinity politics. His interdisciplinary approach bridges literary studies, gender theory, and visual culture, with increasing focus on applying humanities insights to real-world problems as evidenced by his "Mothers of Sierra Leone" project that leverages documentary storytelling to improve maternal health outcomes. His scholarship demonstrates particular expertise in 19th-century British literature with applications to contemporary social justice issues.

• Disciplining Love: Austen and the Modern Man (The Ohio State University Press, 2007)
• Jane Austen and Masculinity (Bucknell University Press, 2017)
• Jane Austen and Critical Theory (Routledge, 2021)
• Forthcoming: Patriarchy's Creative Resilience: Late-Victorian Speculative Fiction and the Sustainability of White Male Supremacy (Routledge, 2024)

Kramp actively mentors students through dissertation committees focused on British literature, film, media, and Gothic studies. His current interdisciplinary "Mothers of Sierra Leone" project brings together faculty and students from diverse disciplines to leverage filmic storytelling for improving maternal health outcomes. The project deliberately amplifies Sierra Leonean women's voices while employing both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate film effectiveness across clinical and community sites in partnership with local organizations.