Rafael Walker
Asst Professor
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
Department: English
Areas of expertise: American Literature (19th and 20th); African American Literature; History and Theory of the Novel; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Email Address: rafael.walker@baruch.cuny.edu
- Biography
- Teaching
- Research and Creative Activity
- Honors and Awards
Assistant professor of English and, by courtesy, of Black and Latino Studies at Baruch College, Rafael Walker specializes in American and African American literature, theory of the novel, and gender and sexuality studies. A wide-ranging scholar, he is working on two book-length projects at present—one on the American realist novel and the other on biraciality in American culture. The first project, Realism after the Individual: Women, Desire, and the Modern American Novel (forthcoming with University of Chicago Press), traces the transformation of the realist novel in the hands of early-twentieth-century American writers, who adapted this quintessentially nineteenth-century genre to the peculiar conditions of their age. The second project, “Biraciality in American Literature and Culture,” focuses on a long line of writings about—and often by—mixed black-and-white people in the U.S. Pressing for a more nuanced approach to race than we get from the habit of classifying these writers easlily within African American literature, Walker argues that these writers’ fervent attempts to carve out space in the American imagination for biracial existence constitute a distinct tradition.
Essays related to both of these longer projects have appeared in a variety of venues—J19, Twentieth-Century Literature, Studies in the Novel, and Genre among them. His essay “Nella Larsen Reconsidered: The Trouble with Desire in Quicksand and Passing,” published in MELUS, won the Modern Language Association’s 2016 Crompton-Noll Award for Best Essay in LGBTQ Studies. He is the editor of The Awakening and Selected Stories (Warbler Classics) and of a critical edition of Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing (Broadview Press). He also often writes about issues in higher education; much of his work in this vein has appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education. He has served on the editorial board of J19: The Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists.
Before coming to Baruch, he taught at several colleges and universities along the East Coast. At Baruch, he teaches courses in his various areas of specialization—primarily American and African American fiction—as well as courses in the college’s signature Great Works Program.
He earned a Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. at Washington University in St. Louis.
Representative Publications:
“Did Howells Give Up on Realism?” J19: Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists (2019)
“The Second Phase of Realism in American Fiction: The Rise and Fall of the Social Self.” Studies in the Novel (2017)
"The Bildungsroman after Individualism: Ellen Glasgow’s Communitarian Alternative.” Genre (2016)
"Kate Chopin and the Dilemma of Individualism.” Kate Chopin in Context: New Approaches (2015)
The Awakening and Selected Stories. Warbler Classics (2021)
"Who Gets to Write about Whom?" The Chronicle of Higher Education (2022)
“Guilt Lit.” The Point Magazine (2020)
Nella Larsen's Passing (Broadview Press)
For more information about Professor Walker, visit his scholar site.
Education
Ph.D., English, University of Pennsylvania
M.A., English, University of Pennsylvania
AB, English, Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis
| Semester | Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2024 | ENG | 4450 | The Modern Short Story |
| Spring 2024 | ENG | 4560 | Mixed-Race Literature |
| Spring 2024 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Fall 2023 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Summer 2023 | ENG | 4450 | The Modern Short Story |
| Spring 2023 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Fall 2022 | ENG | 4525 | Rdngs Queer Lit, Media & Thry |
| Summer 2022 | ENG | 4450 | The Modern Short Story |
| Spring 2022 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Spring 2022 | ENG | 3025 | Surv American Lit II |
| Fall 2021 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Fall 2021 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Summer 2021 | ENG | 4450 | The Modern Short Story |
| Spring 2021 | ENG | 4560 | Mixed-Race Literature |
| Spring 2021 | BLS | 3085 | Special Topics Bls |
| Fall 2020 | ENG | 4950 | Advanced Topics in Language, L |
| Fall 2020 | IDC | 4050H | Hon Feit Hum Sem I |
| Summer 2020 | ENG | 4450 | The Modern Short Story |
| Spring 2020 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Spring 2020 | ENG | 2850H | Honors Great Works II |
| Spring 2020 | ENG | 4525 | Rdngs Queer Lit, Media & Thry |
| Fall 2019 | ENG | 3025 | Surv American Lit II |
| Spring 2019 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Fall 2018 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
| Fall 2018 | ENG | 2850 | Great Works of Literature II |
Books
Walker, R. (2023). Passing (by Nella Larsen). Tonawanda, NY, Broadview Press.
Walker, R. (2020). The Awakening and Other Short Stories. (p. (edited and annotated volume)). New York, Warbler Classics.
Walker, R. Realism after the Individual: Women, Desire, and the Modern American Novel. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. In Progress.
Journal Articles
Walker, R. (2021). Ernest Gaines's The Tragedy of Brady Sims: A Final Nod to Toni Morrison. Arizona Quarterly , 67(4).
Walker, R. (2019). Did Howells Give Up on Realism?. J19: The Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, 7(2). 277–300 (peer-reviewed).
Walker, R. (2018). James Weldon Johnson’s Feminization of Biraciality. Twentieth-Century Literature, 385–406.
Walker, R. (2017). The Second Phase of Realism in American Fiction: The Rise and Fall of the Social Self . Studies in the Novel, 49(4). 493–517 (peer-reviewed).
Walker, R. (2016). The Bildungsroman after Individualism: Ellen Glasgow’s Communitarian Alternative. Genre: Forms of Discourse, 49(3). 385–405.
Walker, R. (2016). Nella Larsen Reconsidered: The Trouble with Desire in Quicksand and Passing. MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 41(1). 165–92.
Book Chapters
Walker, R. (2015). Kate Chopin's and the Dilemma of Individualism. In Ostman, H., & O’Donoghue, K. (Eds.), Kate Chopin in Context: New Approaches. (p. 29–46). New York, NY. Palgrave Macmillan.
Walker, R. Democracy in Anti-Autobiography: Whitman’s "Song of Myself.". Cambridge History of Gay American Autobiography New York, NY. Cambridge University Press.
Walker, R. Manifestly Queer Domesticity: Empire and Nineteenth-Century Queer Fiction. In Brickhouse, A., & Gillman, S. (Eds.), Cambridge Companion to American Literature and Empire. New York, NY. Cambridge University Press.
Media Contributions
Walker, R. (2024). The Cultural History behind Trump's Attack on Kamala Harris's Race.
Walker, R. (2023). What Comes after Affirmative Action?, (July 21).
Walker, R. (2023). Why the Presidents Couldn't Answer 'Yes' or 'No', (12 Dec).
Walker, R. (2023). Faculty Workloads Are Unequal. This Must Change., (January).
Walker, R. (2022). Rafael Walker on Ernest Gaines's Final Nod to Toni Morrison, (November).
Walker, R. (2022). A Vindication of Academic Twitter.
Walker, R. (2022). Who Gets to Write about Whom?.
Walker, R. (2021). Colleges Need to Get Serious about Gun Violence.
Walker, R. (2021). You Can’t Legislate Away Black and Gay Educators and Students..
Walker, R. (2021). Doctoral Students Hiring Career Consultants? This Must Stop..
Walker, R. (2020). Guilt Lit.
Walker, R. (2020). A Breakdown of Trust. (Invited Contribution on Future of Academic Labor).
Walker, R. (2020). The Emptiness of Administrative Statements.
Walker, R. (2017). How Canceling Controversial Speakers Hurts Students.
Walker, R. (2016). The Next Step in Diversifying the Faculty.
Presentations
Walker, R. Opening Up the Plot: The American Realist Novel under Consumer Capitalism.. Plot Lines: Reinterpreting “Economic Narratives” Conference-Workshop. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
Walker, R. The Mixed-Race Fiction of Charles Chesnutt and Mark Twain. Trouble Begins Lecture Series. Trouble Begins Lecture Series. Elmira, Pennsylvania: Center for Mark Twain Studies.
Walker, R. Reading John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. : 92nd Street Y.
Walker, R. (2024, January 15). Toward a More Equitable Distribution of Academic Labor. Modern Language Association Annual Conference. San Francisco, CA: Modern Language Association.
Walker, R. Nella Larsen's Passing. : 92nd Street Y.
Walker, R. Guest Lecture on Uncle Tom’s Cabin for Prof. Ulrich Baer’s Course Fictions of America: To Be the “First.”. New York: New York University.
Walker, R. (2024, March 15). [Keynote] Jean Toomer's Cane: Modernism's Most Unexpected Alteration?. 2023 English Graduate Student Conference: Unexpected Alterations. Queens, New York: St. John's University.
Walker, R. (2024, October 15). Teaching Inclusive History in the Classroom. Teaching Inclusive History in the Classroom. Online: Pride and Less Prejudice.
Walker, R. Realism in Exile. Modern Language Association Annual Conference. Washington, D.C.: Modern Language Association.
Walker, R. (2019, October 20). Realism in Exile. Modernist Studies Association Annual Conference. Toronto, ON: Modernist Studies Association.
Walker, R. (2019, April 12). [Keynote] Ernest Gaines’s The Tragedy of Brady Sims, a Challenge to Black Feminism in the Age of BLM. CUNY Graduate Center English Student Association Conference. New York, New York: CUNY Graduate Center.
Walker, R. (2018, November 9). Biraciality as Neuter: Jean Toomer’s Cane. Modernist Studies Association Annual Conference. Columbus, Ohio, United States: Modernist Studies Association.
Walker, R. (2018, March 1). James Weldon Johnson’s Feminization of Biraciality. 2018 Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference. College Park, Maryland, United States: Critical Mixed Races Studies Association.
Walker, R. (2017, October 25). How American Novelists Remade Realism. Colloquium. Baltimore, Maryland, United States: Department of English, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Walker, R. (2016, March 1). Nella Larsen Reconsidered: The Trouble with Desire in Quicksand and Passing. 47th Annual Conference. Hartford, Connecticut, United States: Northeastern Modern Language Association (NeMLA).
Walker, R. (2016, September 22). Expert Moderator. F. Scott Fitzgerald Life and Legacy Panel. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States: Free Library of Philadelphia.
Walker, R. (2013, May 1). Kate Chopin’s Rejection of Individualism. 24th Annual Conference. Boston, Massachusetts, United States: American Literature Association.
Walker, R. (2013, March 1). Modernizing Realism; or, Why Carrie Must Go to New York. 44th Annual Conference. Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Northeastern Modern Language Association (NeMLA).
Walker, R. (2011, May 1). Edith Wharton and the Problem of Progress. 22nd Annual Conference. Boston, Massachusetts, United States: American Literature Association.
Walker, R. (2008, November 8). ‘Contrairy’ Characters, Prolix Narrators: Adam Bede as a Revision of The Scarlet Letter. Shifting Tides, Anxious Borders: A 19th-Century Transatlantic Graduate Student Conference. Binghamton, New York, United States: Department of English, Binghamton University.
Other Scholarly Works
Walker, R. (2022). Nella Larsen's Application to Library School. New York 1920s: 100 Years Ago Today (When We Became Modern).
Walker, R. (2021). Roundtable for Amy Kaplan. 55(3), 711–15.
Walker, R. (2021). Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, with Rafael Walker.
Walker, R. (2021). Passing into Film: Rebecca Hall’s Adaptation of Nella Larsen. Modernism/Modernity Print Plus. 6(2),
Walker, R. (2016). F. Scott Fitzgerald Life and Legacy Panel. Celebration of Fitzgerald’s 120th Birthday. Free Library of Philadelphia
Reviews
Walker, R. (2024,November 15). Review of Recent Volumes of Henry James's and Nella Larsen's Letters. Edith Wharton Review.
Walker, R. (2019,December 1). Rev. of Racism Postrace. Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal.
Walker, R. (2019,April 1). The Nineteenth Century Just Got Queerer. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies.
Walker, R. (2016,July 1). Rev. of The Europeans, by Henry James. Baltimore, Maryland,United States: College Literature.
Walker, R. (2013,October 1). Rev. of American Socialist Triptych: The Literary-Political Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Upton Sinclair, and W.E.B. Du Bois, by Martin Van Wienen (peer review). Champaign, Illinois,United States: American Literary Realism.
Research Currently in Progess
Walker, R.(n.d.). Biraciality in American Literature and Culture. In Progress.
Book manuscript examining attempts in American history to understand the experiences of people of mixed black and white heritage.
| Honor / Award | Organization Sponsor | Date Received | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crompton-Noll Award for Best LGBTQ Studies Article, MLA Gay and Lesbian Caucus | Gay and Lesbian Caucus of the Modern Language Association | 2017 | Awarded to best essay in the discipline of literary studies on any issue related to LGBTQ studies. |