Matt Brim is Professor of Queer Studies in the English department at CSI, with a faculty appointment at the Graduate Center in the Women's and Gender Studies M.A. Program. He teaches a variety of courses in LGBTQ literature and women's studies, often with a focus on black feminist/queer studies. His most recent book, 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. His other books are the co-edited collection Imagining Queer Methods (with Amin Ghaziani; NYU Press, 2019), and James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination (University of Michigan Press, 2014). He has published in venues including the Journal of Homosexuality, the Journal of Modern Literature, and the Gay and Lesbian Review. Brim coedited the “Queer Methods” special issue of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, 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. He has served on the board of directors for CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies, and with Dr. David Gerstner he cofounded the Queer CUNY Faculty and Staff Working Group. 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. With Dr. Shelly Eversley, he is Academic Director of the Faculty Fellowship Publication Program, a university-wide initiative that advances CUNY’s institutional goal of supporting a diverse professoriate. In the fall 2019, Brim was a Distinguished CUNY Fellow at the Advanced Research Collaborative (ARC) at The Graduate School and University Center, The City University of New York.
Degrees
Ph.D., Indiana University
B.A., Wabash College
Scholarship / Publications
Books
- Queering Sharing: Toward the Redistribution of Resources around the University (in-progress edited collection)
- Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020. (Read the Introduction here)
- 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
- “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.
- 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
- With Amin Ghaziani. "Queer Methods: Four Provocations for an Emerging Field." In Imagining Queer Methods. Eds. Amin Ghaziani and Matt Brim. New York University Press, 2019.
- “Counternarratives: A Black Queer Reader.” In Imagining Queer Methods. Eds. Amin Ghaziani and Matt Brim. New York University Press, 2019.
- “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.
- “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.
Electronic/Multimedia
- "The House the Queer Theory Built." The Baffler, No. 53, September 2020. https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-house-that-queer-theory-built-brim.
- "Queer, Cops, and CUNY." "Stonewall at 50: A Roundtable."The Gotham Center for New York City History Blog, 27 June, 2019, https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/stonewall-at-50-a-roundtable.
- “The FFPP Writing Group that Didn’t Stop.” Faculty Fellowship Publication Program, 24 March 2017. https://ffpp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2017/03/24/the-ffpp-writing-group-that-didnt-stop/ (Blog post).
- “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.
Other Publications
- 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.
News and Events
MEDIA
UPCOMING NEWS AND EVENTS
An Intimate Plenary: New Research in HIV/AIDS Studies. HIV/AIDS Studies Working Group at the City University of New York.
"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!
Courses Taught
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
Lesbian Literature
Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Queer Studies (CUNY Graduate Center)
Studies in Gender and Sexuality (CUNY Graduate Center)
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