Amanda Leigh Bryan

Current Research

My research includes how cultural studies (including, but not limited to, postcolonial studies, sexuality studies, women and gender studies, and class theory) intersects with writing studies and the teaching of writing (including the incorporation of GenAI into writing classrooms) and how various teaching methods that account for these differences can enhance perceptions of belonging and community. 

I am currently researching best methods for the incorporation of AI tools into writing classrooms, using onboarding techniques and activities. 

Selected Publication

• “Embodied Errantry: Aldrick’s Relational Masculinity in The Dragon Can’t Dance.” Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal, vol. 18, no. 1, May 2022, pp 1-. DOI: http://doi.org/10.33596/anth.410.
• “Tracing Errantry: Tan-Tan’s Path to Personal Survival in Midnight Robber.” Caribbean Quarterly, vol. 67, no. 4, November 2021, pp. 411-426.
• “‘The thing relayed as well as the thing related’: Constructing Female Strength through Errantry in Nalo Hopkinson’s “Robber Queen” Folktales.” Journal of West Indian Literature, vol. 29, no. 2, April 2021, pp. 90-107.
• “Decolonization and Mysticism in William Butler Yeats’s The Celtic Twilight and The Secret Rose.” Irish Studies Review, vol. 23, February 2015, pp. 68-89.
• “Alice’s Struggle with Imperialism: Undermining the British Empire through Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The Final Chapters: Concluding Papers of The Journal of Children’s Literature Studies, vol.9, issue 3, Wizard’s Tower Press, London, October 2013, pp. 22-32.

Education

• PhD, English, University of North Carolina—Greensboro, 2019
• Post-Baccalaureate Certificate: Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, 2019
• MA, English, North Carolina State University, 2013
• BA, English and Sociology, University of Sioux Falls, 2010, summa cum laude

Recent Presentations

• "Effectiveness of Onboarding AI Activities." Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, February 2025. 
• “Generic Errantry: Writing to Right Patriarchal Control of Female Sexuality in Literature.” Caribbean Studies Forum Conference, University of Belize, Belmopan, October 2019.
• “Masculine Identity: Moving Through Calvary Hill in The Dragon Can’t Dance.” 37th Annual West Indian Literature Conference, University of Miami, October 2018.
• “Classed Identity: Tracking Stasis in A House for Mr. Biswas.” Caribbean Studies Conference, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, April 2018.
• “‘The thing related as well as the thing relayed’: Female Strength and Knowledge in ‘Tan-Tan the Robber Queen’ Folktales.” Caribbean Studies Forum Conference, University of Belize and East Carolina University, Belmopan, March 2018.

Courses Taught

• Composition—ENGH 101
• Texts and Contexts: Masculinity and Music – ENGH 202
• Texts and Contexts: Caribbean Women Writers – ENGH 202
• Advanced Composition - ENGH 302
• Dimensions of Writing and Literature - ENGH 305
• Identity, Community, and Difference: The Power of Place - HNRS 130
• Reading the Arts: Postcolonial Creative Cultures - HNRS 122