Matt Brim

Professor

Matt Brim is Professor of Queer Studies in the English department at the College of Staten Island and an affiliate faculty in the Women's and Gender Studies M.A. Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. He teaches courses in LGBTQ literature, women's studies, queer/feminist research methods, and queer higher education.

Brim is the Executive Director of CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies at the Graduate Center. Founded in 1991, CLAGS is the first university-based research center in the U.S. dedicated to the study of historical, cultural, and political issues of vital concern to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals and communities.

Brim's most recent monograph, Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University (Duke University Press, 2020), reorients the field of queer studies away from elite institutions of higher education and toward working-class schools, students, theories, and pedagogies. Poor Queer Studies won the Working-Class Studies Association's 2021 Jake Ryan and Charles Sackrey Award. Brim's first book was James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination (University of Michigan Press, 2014). His other books are the coedited collections Queer Precarities in and out of Higher Education: Challenging Institutional Structures (coedited with Churnjeet Mahn and Yvette Taylor; Bloomsbury Academic, 2023), Queer Sharing in the Marketized University (coedited with Yvette Taylor and Churnjeet Mahn; Routledge 2023), and Imagining Queer Methods (with Amin Ghaziani; NYU Press, 2019). He has published in venues including Feminist Theory, the Journal of Homosexuality, the Journal of Modern Literature, the Gay and Lesbian Review, and The Baffler, and he wrote an interactive online study guide for teaching the HIV/AIDS documentary film United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, directed by Jim Hubbard.

For three years, Brim and Dr. Cynthia Chris coedited WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, published by the Feminist Press. He is currently an associate editor for the James Baldwin Review and a reader for Amerikastudien/American Studies.

Degrees

Ph.D., Indiana University

B.A., Wabash College

Scholarship and Publications

Books

  • Queer Precarities in and out of Higher Education: Challenging Institutional Structures. Coedited with Churnjeet Mahn and Yvette Taylor. Bloomsbury Academic, 2023.
  • Queer Sharing in the Marketized University. Coedited with Yvette Taylor and Churnjeet Mahn. London: Routledge, 2023.
  • Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020. (Read the Introduction here)
    • Winner, Jake Ryan and Charles Sackrey Award, presented by the Working Class Studies Association
    • Finalist, O.L. Davis Jr. Outstanding Book in Education Award, presented by the American Association for Teaching and CurriculumReviews: WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly (fall/winter 2022), American Literature (Sept. 2022), ALH Online Review (Dec. 2021), Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association (Aug. 2021), GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (April 2021), PublicBooks (Feb. 2021), philoSOPHIA (spring 2021), Journal of Working-Class Studies (Dec. 2020), Teachers College Record (Nov. 2020), Choice (Oct. 2020), PopMatters (Sept. 2020), Radical Teacher (summer 2020), Ethnic and Racial Studies (July 2020), E3W (spring 2020), Women's Review of Books (May/June 2020)
  • Imagining Queer Methods. Coedited with Amin Ghaziani. New York: New York University Press, 2019.
  • James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Special Issues of Journals

  • Queer Methods. Coedited with Amin Ghaziani. Special issue of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 3-4, 2016.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

  • "An Escaped Slave and a Good Person." Post45: Contemporaries (forthcoming).
  • "Alongside Desire: Object Lessons and Working-Class Studies." Feminist Theory24(2), 285–293. https://doi-org.ezproxy.gc.cuny.edu/10.1177/14647001221143031
  • “Poor Queer Studies: Class, Race, and the Field.” Journal of Homosexuality, special issue: “25 Years On: The State and Continuing Development of LGBTQ Studies Programs.” Nov. 7, 2018.
    • Awarded 2018 Crompton-Noll prize for best essay in lesbian, gay, queer studies in the modern languages/literatures, given by the Gay and Lesbian Quarterly (GL/Q) Caucus of the Modern Language Association
  • Introduction. With Amin Ghaziani. Queer Methods, special issue of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 3-4, 2016, pp. 14-27.
  • “Queer Pedagogical Desire: A Study Guide.” WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 41.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2013): 173-189.
  • “James Baldwin’s Queer Utility.” ANQ: A Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews 24.4 (2011): 209-216.
  •  “Papas’ Baby: Impossible Paternity in Going to Meet the Man.” Journal of Modern Literature 30:1 (2006): 173-198.

Book Chapters

  • “After Queer Baldwin.” In After Queer Studies: Literature, Theory and Sexuality in the 21st Century. Eds. Tyler Bradway and E.L. McCallum. Cambridge University Press, 2019. 87-101.
  • "Queer Methods: Four Provocations for an Emerging Field." With Amin Ghaziani. In Imagining Queer Methods. Eds. Amin Ghaziani and Matt Brim. New York University Press, 2019. 3-27.
  • Counternarratives: A Black Queer Reader.” In Imagining Queer Methods. Eds. Amin Ghaziani and Matt Brim. New York University Press, 2019. 143-162.
  • “Teaching the Touching Text; or, How to Lay ‘Hands’ on Your Students.” The Hand of the Interpreter: Essays on Meaning after Theory. Eds. G.F. Mitrano and Eric Jarosinski. Cultural Interactions: Studies in the Relationships between the Arts. Ser. 3. New York: Peter Lang Pub., 2009. 135-150.

Invited and Featured Articles

Reviews and Reference Works

  • Review of The Specter of Materialism: Queer Theory and Marxism in the Age of the Beijing Consensus, by Petrus Liu (Duke UP, 2023). Journal of Working-Class Studies, vol. 8, no.1, 2023: 150-152.
  • "Methods." With Amin Ghaziani. In Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies. Edited by The Keywords Feminist Editorial Collective. New York University Press, 2021.153-154.
  • Study Guide for United in Anger: A History of ACT UP.” Online educational resource (55 manuscript pages). United in Anger [documentary film]. Dir. Jim Hubbard. March 2013 www.unitedinanger.com/studyguide/?page_id=808.

Electronic/Multimedia

Other Publications

  •  "What Are Queer Parents and Feminist Children to Do?" In Feminism in Our Times: Crisis, Connections & Cares. Ed.Yvette Taylor, Ill. Samia Singh. University of Strathclyde, 2020. 18-19.
  • Not a Novel Crisis at CUNY.” Gotham Gazette, 6 May 2020. Op-ed. https://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/9351-not-a-novel-crisis-cuny-coro…
  •  Review of LGBTQ Politics: A Critical Reader, edited by Marla Brettschneider, Susan Burgess, and Christine Keating. Coauthored with Melissa Maldanado-Salcedo. Teachers College Record, 2018.
  • “Editors’ Note.” With Cynthia Chris. WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 44.1-2 (Spring/Summer 2016): 9-13.
  • “Editors’ Note.” With Cynthia Chris. WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 43.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2015): 9-13.
  • “Editors’ Note.” With Cynthia Chris. WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 43.1-2 (Spring/Summer 2015): 9-13.
  • “Larry Mitchell: Novelist of New York Gay Life.” Obituary. The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide 20.3 (2013): 11.
  • “Edmund White and Rakesh Satyal Headline First Kessler Conversation of the Year.” CLAGS (Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies) Newsletter (Spring 2012): 6.
  • “The Problems with ‘Post-Gay.’” With Amin Ghaziani. Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Division Newsletter of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (Fall 2011): 2-3, 8-9.
  • Mitchell, Larry. Interview. “Larry Mitchell, Novelist of the Dispossessed.” The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide 16.4 (2009): 34-5.
  • “The LGBTQ Short Story.”  LGBTQ America Today. Ed. John Hawley. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008. 1131-1137.
  • STACS: Strategies to Acquire Composition Skills. With Ted Leahey, Michele Satchwell, and Doug Estell. Bloomington, IN: PDK, 2004.

MEDIA

Poor Queer Studies, Interview -- New Books Network / LGBTQ+ Channel / Queer Voices of the South Podcast, April 2, 2021
Poor Queer Studies: Matt Brim in Conversation -- Bureau of General Services Queer Division, October 23, 2020
Poor Queer Studies: Away from Elitism, Toward Anti-Racist Education -- SUM: Research, Innovation, and Creativity at CUNY, April 3, 2020
"Q & A with Matt Brim" -- Duke University Press Blog, March 2020
 
RECENT HONORS
•Winner, Jake Ryan and Charles Sackrey Award, presented by the Working Class Studies Association, for Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University
•2021 Doctoral Curriculum Enhancement Grant, CUNY PublicsLab
•2021 Futures Initiative Faculty Fellow, "Equity, Elitism, and Public Higher Education," with Katina Rogers
•Finalist, 2020 O.L. Davis Jr. Outstanding Book in Education Award, presented by the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum, for Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University
•Distinguished CUNY Fellow at the Advanced Research Collaborative (ARC) at The Graduate School and University Center, The City University of New York.
•Appointed to Graduate Center faculty in the Women's and Gender Studies M.A. Program, fall 2019
•2018 Crompton-Noll prize for best essay in lesbian, gay, queer studies in the modern languages/literatures for "Poor Queer Studies: Class, Race, and the Field," given by the Gay and Lesbian Quarterly (GL/Q) Caucus of the Modern Language Association
 
UPCOMING NEWS AND EVENTS
 
PAST NEWS AND EVENTS
October 17, 2022
"We Should Bring Her Here: On the Upward Redistribution of Resources in the Queer Academy"
Duke University Annual Queer Theory Lecture in Honor of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
June 17, 2022
Queer Methods Now
Queering Urbanism Lecture Series
June 8, 2021
The Unfashionable Line of Poor Queer Studies
Keynote, Working-Class Studies Association Conference

May 26, 2021

Further Ferrying: Poor Queer Studies
Gender/Sexuality/Culture Interdisciplinary Research Seminar Series
University of Melbourne

April 14, 2021

Public Dialogue on Critical University and Queer Studies with Kris Trujillo
Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality
University of Chicago
April 8, 2021
"Poor Queer Studies"
Advanced Research Collaborative Lecture
CUNY Graduate Center

April 7, 2021

Queer Commuter Students: Confronting Elitism in the University
Sexuality Studies Minor Inaugural Lecture
University of Massachusetts Boston

February 24, 2021

"Teaching Black Queer Studies as General Education for the Public Good"
Teaching and Learning in the Humanities Workshop
January 2021
MLA 2021, "Queer Lists" Roundtable
MLA 2021, "Class and Academe" Panel
December 10, 2020
"Confronting Elitism and Racism in the University: A View from CSI
Dean's Critical Confrontations Series
College of Staten Island, CUNY

November 6, 2020

"Queer-Class Counternarratives in Higher Education"
Queer Studies Interdisciplinary Research Group
University of Miami
March 10-13, 2020 
"Building Queer/Class Lives," with Yvette Taylor
Strathclyde Feminist Research Network
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
March 9, 2020
"Poor Queer Studies Mothers"
Centre for Gender in Politics
Queen's University, Belfast
March 4 2020
"Poor Queer Studies"
Peace and Conflict Studies Program
Swarthmore College
January 10, 2020
Modern Language Association Conference, "Queer Studies and Its Class Locations" special session; "Black Queer Contributions" special session
October 5, 2020
Colgate University, LGBTQ Studies Symposium
May 3, 2019
Open Pedagogy Symposium, Graduate Center: #TheSyllabus and Social Change panel
April 16, 2019
"Books in Progress" presentation, English Department, College of Staten Island
April 15, 2019
Faculty Talk Back: United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, College of Staten Island

April 10-11, 2019

"Poor Queer Studies." Williams College.
March 29, 2019
"Poor Queer Studies." CUNY Diversity and Inclusion Conference, Graduate Center, New York.

January 5, 2019

“Vocational Queer Studies.” American Historical Association Convention. Chicago, IL.
November 9, 2018
“Poor Queer Studies.” American Studies Association Annual Convention. Atlanta, GA.
Spring 2018
CUNY Academic Commons Open Educational Resource Faculty Fellow
CUNY Office of Research Book Completion Award
March 19, 2018
An Intimate Plenary: New Research in HIV/AIDS Studies. HIV/AIDS Studies Working Group at the City University of New York.
February 29, 2018
“Poor Queer Studies Mothers.” Center for the Study of Women and Society, CUNY Graduate Center, New York

February 28, 2018
"Poor Queer Studies Mothers." The Center for the Study of Women and Society, Graduate Center of the City University of New York
March 4, 2016
The Future of CLAGS and LGBTQ Studies. CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies 25th Anniversary Conference.
October 9, 2015
"James Baldwin in the Queer Academy.” Plenary Roundtable. American Studies Association Convention. Toronto, Canada
April 25, 2014
New York Live Arts. Live Ideas: James Baldwin THIS Time!

Undergraduate Courses
The Lesbian Novel
Queer Studies
Black Gay Male Literature
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Literature
Introduction to the Study of Literature
Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Writing about HIV/AIDS Activist Documentary Film
The Idea of Sexuality

Graduate Courses

Queer Feminist Methods (CUNY Graduate Center)
Equity, Elitism, and Higher Education (team taught, CUNY Graduate Center)
Lesbian Literature
Feminist Publishing (team taught, CUNY Graduate Center)
Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Queer Studies (CUNY Graduate Center)
Studies in Gender and Sexuality (CUNY Graduate Center)
James Baldwin Seminar
Feminist Literary Criticism
The LGBTQ Short Story
Studies in U.S. Literature after 1900: The Work of James Baldwin
What is Queer Fiction?
Studies in Composition and Rhetoric
Black Queer Literature

Contact Information

Office: Building 2S Room 214