Bio


Nissa Ren Cannon grew up in Santa Cruz, CA, and earned her B.A. in Comparative Literature and Italian at UCLA, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in English at UC Santa Barbara.
Prior to arriving at Stanford, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Honors College at Boston University, where she enjoyed a crash-course in Northeastern winters.

Her research focuses on modernist American literature, citizenship, and print culture. Her book project, 'Paper Identities and Identity Papers,' argues that the bureaucratic and literary documents of interwar itinerancy--including passports, travel ephemera, and newspapers--shape expatriation as a distinct mode of national belonging.

Academic Appointments


  • Lecturer, Writing and Rhetoric Studies

Current Research and Scholarly Interests


My research focuses on transatlantic modernism, citizenship, and print culture. My book project, which was chosen for the 2019 Penn State First Book Institute, argues that the bureaucratic and literary documents of interwar itinerancy–including passports, travel ephemera, and newspapers–shape expatriation as a distinct mode of national belonging.

All Publications


  • 'Essentially an American Institution Planted on Foreign Soil': The American Library in Paris, the Paris Herald, the Paris Tribune and Ex Libris CULTURAL HISTORY Cannon, N. 2021; 10 (2): 207-225
  • “No Man’s Ocean Ever Did Get the Best of Me” ELN Cannon, N. 2021

    View details for DOI 10.1215/00138282-8815027

  • “An Easy Chance to Do a Good Thing”: The Paris Tribune’s Campaign to Save the American Library IdeAs Cannon, N. R. 2021

    View details for DOI 10.4000/ideas.11173

  • "A UNIQUE PLAN OF GETTING DEPORTED": CLAUDE MCKAY'S BANJO AND THE MARKED PASSPORT SYMPLOKE Cannon, N. 2017; 25 (1-2): 141–53
  • The American Colonies: Paris's Chicago Tribune and Paris-American Identity Journal of Modern Periodical Studies Cannon, N. R. 2017