Bio

Grace Heneks received her PhD from Texas A&M University in 2021. She specializes in contemporary African American and multiethnic U.S. literature. Her work has been published in MELUS, The Comparatist, and The Journal of Popular Culture. In addition to teaching English, Grace also enjoys running long distances and walking her dogs with her husband.

Research Interests

• 20th and 21st Century Studies
• African American and African Diaspora Literature
• American Literature and Culture

Honors and Awards

• Texas A&M University Dissertation Fellowship, 2020-2021
• Judith Yaross Lee Publication Grant in American Humor Studies, American Humor Studies Association, 2020.
• Murray and Celeste Fasken Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award, College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University, 2020.
• Constance Rourke Prize, American Humor Studies Association, 2020.
• Staley Creswell Teaching Award, English Department, Texas A&M University, 2018.
  

Other Publications

• “Ocular Rebellion: The Satirical Gaze of White Fright in Jordan Peele’s Get Out” (accepted in The Journal of Popular Culture; forthcoming)
  
• “‘What Race Problem?’: The Satirical Gaze of (White) History in The Underground Railroad.” MELUS, vol. 45, no. 4, 2020, pp. 133-154.
  
• “The American Subplot: Colson Whitehead’s Post-Racial Allegory in Zone One.” The Comparatist, vol. 42, no. 1, 2018, pp. 60-79.