Black Naturalism: Genre and the Nonhuman in 19th and 20th Century Black Diasporic Literature

My research will provide a dual intervention into the literary genre of naturalism through an exploration of
transnational Black writers. First, my thesis rethinks the temporal and geographical boundaries of when and where
naturalism, as a genre, developed. Second, I argue for the centrality of Black authors in literary naturalism over the
19th and early 20th centuries, asserting that a complex understanding of ecology emerges from these overlooked
Page 5 of 9 Pages
authors. Using the methodologies of Black ecologies, geographies, and literary studies, I intend to trace, intersect, and
contrast the naturalisms of prominent Black authors to re-historicise the genre of literary naturalism.