About

Ayesha Hardison is a literary and cultural critic of African American writing and representation. An Associate Professor of English and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Kansas (KU), she explores questions of race, gender, genre, social politics, and historical memory in her research and teaching. Her book Writing through Jane Crow, winner of the 2014 Nancy Dasher Award from the College English Association of Ohio and designated a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association, examines portrayals of black women and the politics of black literary production during the 1940s and 1950s. Hardison has received fellowships and grants from the Ford Foundation, Schomburg Center Scholars-In-Residence Program, Black Metropolis Research Consortium, and Kansas Humanities Council, and she has published several book chapters as well as journal articles in African American Review and Meridians. In 2017, she co-organized “Black Love: A Symposium,” a week-long series of events celebrating the 80th anniversary of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God at KU. Currently, she is co-guest editing issues of The Langston Hughes Review and Women, Gender, and Families of Color (WGFC). In fall 2019, she became the editor of WGFC, a multidisciplinary journal centering the study of Вlack, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian American women, genders, and families.