Atesede Makonnen

Assistant Professor

Bio

My research focuses on the visualization of race in British culture, from early modernity to the nineteenth century. I work with novels, poetry, children’s literature, illustrations, portraits, and theatrical practice, working across periods and media to paint a full picture of how cultural objects contribute to and bolster ideas about race. My current project, The Actual Sight of the Thing: Visualizing Blackness in Nineteenth-Century British Culture, investigates the impact of racialized sight, exploring how the approaching end of slavery sparked new consideration and wariness of black subjects and gave birth to persistent forms of anti-blackness centered in visuality.

I also enthusiastically think, write, and teach about pop-culture, including courses like “Superheroes & Identity in Popular Culture,” “Race and Pop-Culture in America,” “Pride & Prejudice & Fandom,” and “Happily Ever After (?): Fantasies of Nineteenth-Century Romance.”

Outside of work, I’m a big fan of comic books, the Beatles, kayaking, and hiking!

Education

• B.A. in English, Dartmouth College
• M.A. in Shakespeare Studies, King's College London
• Ph.D. in English, Johns Hopkins University

Research

Romanticism, Long 18th Century, Long 19th Century, Race, British Culture