Bio

Jennifer DeVere Brody (she/her) holds a B.A. in Victorian Studies from Vassar College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English and American Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. Her scholarship and service in African and African American Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, visual and performance studies have been recognized by numerous awards: a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2023 Virginia Howard Fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation, support from the Mellon and Ford Foundations, the Monette-Horwitz Prize for Independent Research Against Homophobia, the Royal Society for Theatre Research, and the Thurgood Marshall Prize for Academics and Community Service among others. Her scholarly essays have appeared in Theatre Journal, Signs, Genders, Callaloo, Screen, Text and Performance Quarterly and other journals as well as in numerous edited volumes. Her books include: Impossible Purities: Blackness, Femininity and Victorian Culture (Duke University Press, 1998), Punctuation: Art, Politics and Play (Duke University Press, 2008) and Moving Stones: About the Art of Edmonia Lewis(forthcoming from Duke University Press). She has served as the President of the Women and Theatre Program, on the board of Women and Performance and has worked with the Ford and Mellon Foundations. She co-produced “The Theme is Blackness” festival of black plays in Durham, NC when she taught in African American Studies at Duke University. Her research and teaching focus on performance, aesthetics, politics as well as black feminist theory, black queer studies and contemporary cultural studies. She co-edited, with Nicholas Boggs, the re-publication of James Baldwin’s illustrated book, Little Man, Little Man (Duke UP, 2018). She held the Weinberg College of Board of Visitors Professorship at Northwestern University and has been a tenured professor at six different universities in her thirty year career. Her expertise in Queer Studies fostered her work as co-editor ,with C. Riley Snorton, of the flagship journal GLQ. She serves on the Editorial Board of Transition and key journals in global 19th Century Studies. At Stanford, she served as Chair of the Theater & Performance Studies Department (2012-2015) and Faculty Director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity (2016-2021) where she won a major grant from the Mellon Foundation and developed the original idea for an Institute on Race Studies.

Academic Appointments

  • Professor, Theater and Performance Studies
  • Professor (By courtesy), African and African American Studies

Administrative Appointments

  • Director, Center for the Comparative Study in Race and Ethnicity (2016 - 2021)
  • Chair, Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, Stanford University (2012 - 2015)
  • Professor, Department of Drama and Affiliate Faculty, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University (2011 - Present)
  • Professor, African and African American Studies, Women's Studies & Theater, Duke University (2008 - 2011)
  • Visiting Professor, African and African American Studies, Duke University (2008 - 2008)
  • Weinberg College Board of Visitors Research and Teaching Professor, Northwestern University (2006 - 2008)
  • Associate Professor of English, Performance Studies and African American Studies, Northwestern University (2002 - 2008)
  • Associate Professor of English and African American Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago (2000 - 2002)
  • Associate Professor of English, The George Washington University (1998 - 2000)
  • Assistant Professor of English, University of California, Riverside (1992 - 1998)

Honors & Awards

  • Virginia Howard Fellow, Bogliasco Foundation (Spring 2023)
  • Fellow, Guggenheim Foundation (2022-2023)
  • Faculty Fellow, Clayman Center for Research in Gender Studies at Stanford (2012 - 2013)
  • Duke Endowment Teaching Enhancement Award, Duke University (2010)
  • Outstanding Faculty Award, Duke Center for GLBIT Life (2010)
  • Weinberg College Board of Visitors Research and Teaching Professor, Northwestern University (2005 - 2007)
  • Faculty Affiliate, Kaplan Humanities Center, Northwestern University (2006)
  • Interdisciplinary Course Development Award, Northwestern University, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences (WCAS) (2003)
  • Award for Independent Research Against Homophobia, Manette/Horwitz Trust (2002)
  • Special Citation for Co-Editing "Plum Nelly," in Callaloo, Mondern Language Association (MLA) (2000)
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation (1998 - 1999)
  • Notable Book in Language and Literature for Impossible Purities, Choice (1998)
  • Affirmative Action Development Award, University of California Regents (1997)
  • Research Award, Royal Society for Theatre Research, Great Britain (1996)
  • Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh (1994 - 1995)
  • Queer Alliance Faculty Service Award, University of California, Riverside (1994)
  • Fellowship, School of Criticism and Theory, Dartmouth College (1993)
  • Fellow, Center for Ideas and Society, Postcolonial Studies, University of California-Riverside (1993)
  • Paul Robeson Award for Academic Excellence and Leadership, University of Pennsylvania
  • Whiting Dissertation Fellow, University of Pennsylvania (1991 - 1992)
  • Graduate Fellow, Mellon Minority Undergraduate Program (1990 - 1992)
  • Fontaine Fellow, University of Pennsylvania (1987 - 1988)

Additional Program Affiliations

  • African and African American Studies
  • American Studies
  • Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Modern Thought and Literature

Professional Education

  • Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, English and American Literature (1992)
  • Certificate, Jesus College, Oxford University, African Studies (1990)
  • M.A., University of Pennsylvania, English Literature (1989)
  • B.A., Vassar College, Victorian Studies (1987)

Contact

  • Academic
    jbrody1@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: Theater and Performance Studies Position: Professor

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 5010

Links

Projects

  • New Edition of James Baldwin's LITTLE MAN, LITTLE MAN (August 10, 2018 - Present)

    Republication of Baldwin's only book written for children

    Location

    New York

    Collaborators

    • Nicholas Boggs, Clinical Professor, New York University
  • Moving Stones: About the Art of Edmonia Lewis (under contract)

    Location

    CA

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Little Man, Little Man by James Baldwin and Yoran Cazac. Co-Edited with Nicholas Boggs Baldwin, J. Duke University Press. 2018
  • Everything You Do ... Ntozake Shange's Recipe for Performance Scholar and Feminist On-Line Brody, J. D. 2013
  • Child of Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History's Black and Indian Subject Women's Review of Books Brody, J. D. 2011; 28 (2)
  • Punctuation: Art, Politics and Play Brody, J. D. Duke University Press. 2008
  • Clare Kendry's 'True' Colors Norton Critical Edition of Nella Larsen's Passing Brody, J. D. edited by Caplan, C. Norton Press. 2007
  • Black cat fever: Manifestations of Manet's Olympia (Art history, performance studies, and visual culture) THEATRE JOURNAL DeVere Brody, J. 2001; 53 (1): 95-118

    View details for Web of Science ID 000168047900005

  • The returns of Cleopatra Jones SIGNS Brody, J. D. 1999; 25 (1): 91-121

    View details for Web of Science ID 000084019000004

  • Impossible Purities: Blackness, Femininity and Victorian Culture Brody, J. D. Duke University Press. 1998
  • Embodied Avatars: Genealogies of Black Feminist Art and Performance (Book Review) SIGNS Book Review Authored by: Brody, J. 2017; 42 (3): 801–5

    View details for Web of Science ID 000395362500021

  • Wandering: Philosophical Performances of Racial and Sexual Freedom (Book Review) SIGNS Book Review Authored by: Brody, J. 2017; 42 (3): 801–5

    View details for Web of Science ID 000395362500020

  • The Repeating Body: Slavery's Visual Resonance in the Contemporary (Book Review) SIGNS Book Review Authored by: Brody, J. 2017; 42 (3): 801–5

    View details for Web of Science ID 000395362500019

  • The Cambridge Companion to African American Theater Theater Review Brody, J. D. 2014
  • Occupy Your Imagination OCCUPY THE FUTURE Elam, M., Brody, J., Grusky, D. B., McAdam, D., Reich, R., Satz, D. 2013: 209–19

    View details for Web of Science ID 000318227200015

  • Occupy Art Occupy the Future Brody, J. D. edited by Grusky, D., McAdam, D., Reich, R., Satz, D. MIT Press. 2013
  • Passing Solo: An Interview with Nancy Cheryll Davis Solo black woman Brody, J. D. edited by Johnson, E. P., Rivera-Servera, R. Northwestern University Press. 2013
  • Occupy Art Occupy the Future Brody, J. D., Elam, M. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2012
  • Occupy Art The Boston Review Brody, J. D., Elam, M. 2012
  • Representing African Americans in Transatlantic Abolitionism and Blackface Minstrelsy (Book Review) JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORY Book Review Authored by: Brody, J. D. 2011; 77 (4): 954-955

    View details for Web of Science ID 000297081500050

  • Review of It TDR: The Drama Review Brody, J. D. 2009
  • The Returns of Cleopatra Jones Taboo, Not Taboo Brody, J. D. edited by Delgado, D. Cleis Press. 2009
  • The Blackness of Blackness: Reading the Typography of Invisible Man New Critical Views on Ralph Ellison Brody, J. D. edited by Bloom, H. Vintage Press. 2009
  • Dangerous Profiling: Recent Media Representations of Black Male Sexuality Brody, J., Tapia, R., McCune, J. edited by Battle, J., Cohen, C. Rutgers Press. 2009
  • Performance in America GLQ Brody, J. D. 2007
  • Boyz Do Cry: Screening History's White Lies Queer Screen: The Screen Reader Brody, J. D. edited by Stacey, J., Street, S. Routledge Press. 2007
  • An-Other Case of New England Underwriting: Negotiating Race and Property in the Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge Crossing Waters, Crossing Worlds: The African Diaspora in Indian Countrv Brody, J. D., Holland, S. edited by Miles, T., Holland, S. Duke University Press. 2006
  • The blackness of blackness ... Reading the typography of invisible man THEATRE JOURNAL Brody, J. D. 2005; 57 (4): 679-?

    View details for Web of Science ID 000234666300006

  • Moving Violations: Globalization and Black Feminism in F. Gary Gray's Set it Off Black Cultural Traffic Brody, J. D. edited by Elam, H., Jackson, K. University of Michigan Press. 2005: 363–378
  • Etiquette in the Electronic Era: The Art and Ethics of Asking for a Letter of Recommendation Lore: An On-Line Journal Brody, J. D. 2003
  • Deforming Island Races Making Humans: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; H.G. Wells' Island of Dr. Moreau Brody, J. D. edited by Wilt, J. Houghton Mifflin Press. 2003: 341–352
  • The Returns of Cleopatra Jones Queer Studies: An Interdisciplinary Reader Brody, J. D. edited by Corber, R., Valocchi, S. Blackwell Publishers, UK. 2003: 88–101
  • Queering Racial Reproduction: Grimke's 'The Closing Door' Text and Performance Quarterly Brody, J. D. 2003; 23 (2): 205-223
  • The color of sex: Whiteness, heterosexuality, and the fictions of white-supremacy. (Book Review) JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY Book Review Authored by: Brody, J. D. 2002; 89 (2): 633-634

    View details for Web of Science ID 000177945500058

  • Boyz do cry: Screening history's white lies ('Boys Don't Cry') SCREEN Brody, J. D. 2002; 43 (1): 91-96

    View details for Web of Science ID 000175306000008

  • Forum on the Tragedy of September 11 Theatre Journal Brody, J. D. 2002; 54 (1): 101-102
  • Victorians and Slave Narrative Victorian Studies Brody, J. D. 2002; 44 (3)
  • The black body: Women, colonialism, and space (Book Review) RESEARCH IN AFRICAN LITERATURES Book Review Authored by: Brody, J. D. 2001; 32 (4): 220-221

    View details for Web of Science ID 000172092500030

  • Opening Sequences Dancing Desires Brody, J. D. edited by Desmond, J. University of Wisconsin Press. 2001: 391–401
  • Distance learning classroom using virtual Harlem 7th International Conference on Virtual Systems and MultiMedia (VSMM 2000) Park, K. S., Leigh, J., Johnson, A. E., Carter, B., Brody, J., Sosnoski, J. IEEE COMPUTER SOC. 2001: 489–498

    View details for Web of Science ID 000174171500058

  • Theory in motion: A review of the Black Queer Studies in the Millennium conference (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, April 7-9, 2000) CALLALOO Brody, J. D. 2000; 23 (4): 1274-1277

    View details for Web of Science ID 000167586900023

  • The Yankee Hugging the Creole Creole: The New Orleans Afro-French Brody, J. D. edited by Kein, S. University of Louisiana Press. 2000: 101–116
  • The Returns of Cleopatra Jones The Seventies Brody, J. D. edited by Waldrep, S. Routledge. 2000
  • Shading Meaning Performing the Body/Performing the Text Brody, J. D. edited by Jones, A., Stephenson, A. Routledge Press. 1999: 89–106
  • Memory's movements: Minstrelsy, miscegenation, and American race studies AMERICAN LITERARY HISTORY Brody, J. D. 1999; 11 (4): 736-744

    View details for Web of Science ID 000087052500008

  • New Black Feminist Criticism Signs Brody, J. D. 1998; 69
  • The politics of color in the fiction of Jessie Fauset and Nella Larsen - McClendon,JY (Book Review) AFRICAN AMERICAN REVIEW Book Review Authored by: Brody, J. D. 1997; 31 (3): 528-529

    View details for Web of Science ID A1997YA02900027

  • American Anatomies American Literature Brody, J. D. 1997; VI (69): 656-657
  • Gothic Images of Race in Nineteenth-Century Britain Nineteenth-Century Literature Brody, J. D. 1997: 517-519
  • Effaced into Flesh: Black Women's Subjectivity Genders Brody, J. D. 1996; 24: 184-205
  • When White Women Matter: Re-Reading Race and Gender American Quarterly Brody, J. D. 1996; 48 (1): 153-160
  • The Nicholas Brothers The Encyclopedia of African American Literature and Culture Brody, J. D. edited by West, C., Salzberg, J. MacMillan Publishers. 1995
  • Hyphen-Nations Cruising the Performative Brody, J. D. edited by Brett, P., Case, S., Foster, S. University of Indiana Press. 1995: 149–162
  • Clare Kendry's 'True' Colors: Race and Class Conflict in Nella Larsen's Passing Callaloo Brody, J. D. 1992; 15 (4): 1053-1065