dr. Berit Brink

No ancillary activities

Ancillary activities are updated daily

I’m an Assistant Professor of American Literature specialized in African American literature and cultural theory. Much of my research is concerned with resistance and rebellion, specifically in terms of the work texts are doing beyond the page.  I am interested in the ways in which writing often serves as a the testing ground for radically novel ways of thinking, doing, and being in the world.

Whether explicit or subtle, popular or academic, I enjoy examining radically new points of view and small shifts in perspective. From the literature of the Black Arts Movement to the critical theory of Achille Mbembe and Saidiya Hartman, I am particularly interested in reimagined ontologies of Blackness and revisions of established histories and methodologies.

I believe there is great value in reimagining what we think we know, and revising our methods accordingly. Not in an attempt to falsify the past or idealize the present, but in an effort to cleave continuously closer to a comprehensive understanding of the past and its present repercussions.