SJ Zhang

SJ Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Chicago, teaching since 2018. Their research examines slavery and marronage in the US and Caribbean from the 17th-19th centuries, focusing on resistance, flight, and textual production.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2018

Zhang's work employs "narrative restraint" and an ethics of "refusal" to study maroon escape and its archival traces. Their book project Going Maroon and Other Forms of Family investigates kinship in maroon communities. They also research Tituba of the Salem Witch Trials and collaborate with artist Marisa Williamson on Room, a project for Black women in colonial America.

Publications reveal a focus on Black resistance, translation of Francophone texts (e.g., "Bras-Coupé"), and the intersections of race, gender, and revolution. Zhang's scholarship bridges literary studies, history, and performance.

No scientific awards were mentioned.

No details on advising or grants were provided.

Zhang co-leads the collaborative project Room and teaches courses in African-American Literature, Caribbean Studies, and Gender Studies, emphasizing transnational perspectives and archival methods.