معرفی
Tahneer Oksman is Associate Professor in the Department of Writing, Literature, and Language with a joint appointment in Communication and Media Arts at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. She teaches courses in writing, literature, comics, journalism, and feminist theory.
She earned her Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate Center, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Her research centers on Memoir Studies, Comics and Visual Culture, Jewish American Literature, Feminist Theory, and Writing Studies. She explores how personal narratives—especially graphic memoirs—convey identity, grief, and cultural belonging. Her work often examines how visual form interacts with storytelling, particularly in the context of gender, Jewishness, and trauma.
Her recent publications include scholarly books and edited collections that have shaped discourse in comics studies and feminist literary criticism. The most notable is her award-winning co-edited volume The Comics of Julie Doucet and Gabrielle Bell (2019), which won the Comics Studies Society Prize. She has also published in major public venues such as NPR, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Los Angeles Review of Books, where she reviews graphic novels and interviews prominent cartoonists.
Her academic and public writings on grief, mentorship, and comics reveal a consistent focus on how personal stories foster connection, ethical reflection, and cultural understanding. She is currently working on a book about grief memoirs and co-editing a special issue of Women’s Studies Quarterly on chronic illness.
- Winner of the 2020 Comics Studies Society Prize for Best Edited Collection
- Co-editor, Feminists Reclaim Mentorship: An Anthology (2023), selected as a Jewish Women’s Archive Book Club pick
- Member, National Book Critics Circle
- Academic Advisory Board, Jewish Women’s Archive (2021–present)
- Board of Directors, Gender Justice Caucus, Association of Jewish Studies (2021–2027)
Tahneer Oksman mentors emerging scholars and writers, often in collaboration with her mentor Nancy K. Miller. She has advised on research projects, served on academic committees, and contributed to journals and literary magazines as a reader and editor. She has not received specific grant mentions in the text, but her sustained scholarly output and public engagement suggest active funding and institutional support. She leads the Grief Memoir Project and the Mentorship Project, both ongoing research and writing initiatives.
She is affiliated with several academic and literary communities, including the MLA Global Jewish Forum (Executive Committee, 2019–2024) and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Awards Committee. She has delivered lectures at institutions such as the National Library of Israel, Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities, and the Center for Jewish History, demonstrating her international academic presence.
