LaVelle Ridley

Education/Degrees

I earned my B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Africana Studies from the University of Toledo in 2016 and my M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan in 2019.

Research Interests

My current research interests include 20th and 21st century African American fiction, life writing, Black feminist theory, trans & queer of color critique, and abolitionist studies. My dissertation questions how contemporary black trans life narratives employ what I call critical trans* imagination as a narrative and political strategy to creatively resist oppressive power regimes and enact new forms of blacktransfeminist freedom/world-making.

Professional Experience

I'm the current Associate Editor of Book Reviews for TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. I'm also collaborating with other trans women of color creatives and writers on an anthology project tentatively titled Paradise on the Margins: Lessons and Dreams from Trans Women of Color. For the call for submissions and other updates, visit our website here.

Publications

"Imagining Otherly: Performing Possible Black Trans Feminist Futures in Tangerine." TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 6.4 (November 2019): 481-490.

"The Arrival of Black Trans Mattering." Review of C. Riley Snorton's Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 25.4 (October 2019): 667-669.