Preferred Pronouns

He/Him

Educational History

B.A., New College of Florida; M.A., University of Mississippi; PhD., University of Illinois Chicago

Professional Highlights

O’Connor, Jared. “Youth, Violence, and Queer Futurity in I Heard it Through the Grapevine.” James Baldwin Review, vol. 10, 2024

• Willet Award for Outstanding Adjunct Instruction (Roosevelt University)
• Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Instruction (University of Illinois Chicago)
• Kegan Award for Outstanding Research in Gender and Women’s Studies (University of Illinois Chicago)

Research

My research explores complex negotiations of gender and sexuality as mediated by and transcended through literary and artistic representations. My dissertation, “Forming Queerness: Experimental Forms and Queer Lineage in Post-Stonewall American Literature,” argues that the Stonewall Riots of 1969 marked a transformative moment for queer literary expression, because they invited interrogation of the socio-cultural and political efficacies of queer art and culture. By focusing on literatures that experiment with form and genre, my research shows how artists shed new light on familiar accounts of gender, sexuality, and queer theories developed throughout the post-Stonewall era through their creation of new genres, fantastical representations of sexual liberation, and kaleidoscopic intertextuality that builds an archive of queer literature and culture for readers. The works I study in this project and teach in my courses animates the resiliency of queer artists as they navigate the increasingly violent worlds they inhabit. Broadly, my work engages the political dimensions of sexuality as it contends with the State (both within America and its global contacts), locating queer theory and literature as the nexus of the political, social, and cultural loci of state violence.

Fields of Expertise

• Post 1945 American and Global Literatures
• LGBTQ+ Literatures
• Queer Theory
• LGBTQ+ History and Culture
• Film Studies

Personal Highlights

I enjoy spending times with my two cats, Frank and Rizzo, watching sports, seeing movies, catching a live concert, traveling with friends, and hitting balls at the tennis court.

Quote

Grace / to be born and live as variously as possible”—Frank O’Hara