Matt Brim is Associate Professor of Queer Studies and Director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at the College of Staten Island, CUNY, where he writes about LGBTQ literature, the field of queer studies, and queer pedagogy. He is the author of James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination (2014), coeditor of a special issue of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly (“Queer Methods,” 2016), and author of an interactive online study guide for teaching the HIV/AIDS documentary film United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. His current book project, “Poor Queer Studies,” reorients the field of queer studies toward working-class schools, students, theories, and pedagogies.

Professor Brim is a Mentor in the Faculty Fellowship Publication Program, a University-wide initiative that advances CUNY’s institutional goal of supporting a diverse professoriate. He is a contributing editor for the James Baldwin Review and is former co-editor of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly. Brim co-founded the CUNY-wide Queer Faculty and Staff Working Group.
Students in Professor Brim’s courses can expect to explore complex narratives of sexuality, gender, race, and ability. Recent courses include “The Lesbian Novel, “Queer Studies,” “Black Gay Male Literature,” “Feminist Publishing,” “The LGBTQ Short Story,” and “Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.” Professor Brim encourages students, faculty, and staff to share a commitment to increasing LGBTQ representation and visibility on the CSI campus.

Degrees

Ph.D., Indiana University

B.A., Wabash College

Scholarship / Publications

  • “James Baldwin and Queer of Color Critique.” In After Queer Studies: Literary Theory and Critical Interpretation. Eds. Tyler Bradway and E.L. McCallum. Forthcoming in the Cambridge University Press “After X” series.
  • Queer Methods. Coedited with Amin Ghaziani. Special issue of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 3-4, 2016.
  • Introduction. With Amin Ghaziani. Queer Methods, special issue of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 3-4, 2016, pp. 14-27.
  • “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.
  • James Baldwin and the Queer Imagination. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2014.
  • “Queer Pedagogical Desire: A Study Guide.” WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 41.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2013)
  • “Larry Mitchel: Novelist of New York Gay Life.” Obituary. The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide 20.3 (May/June 2013).
  • “Study Guide.” United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. Dir. Jim Hubbard. DVD, <http://www.unitedinanger.com/?page_id=808>. New York: MIX, 2012.
  • “Edmund White and Rakesh Satyal Headline First Kessler Conversation of the Year.” CLAGS (Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies) Newsletter (Spring 2012): 6.
  • “James Baldwin’s Queer Utility.” ANQ: A Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews 24.4 (Fall 2011): 209-216.
  • “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 (July/August 2009): 34-5.
  • “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.
  • “The LGBTQ Short Story.”  LGBTQ America Today. Ed. John Hawley. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008: 1131-1137.
  • “Papas’ Baby: Impossible Paternity in Going to Meet the Man.” Journal of Modern Literature 30.1 (Fall 2006): 173-198.

News and Events

2017-2018
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. (Upcoming)
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 (Upcoming)
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

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
Feminist Publishing (team taught, CUNY Graduate Center)
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