Vivian M. May
Vivian M. May
Professor
CONTACT
Humanities Center
Women's and Gender Studies
301 Tolley Humanities Building
Email: vmmay@syr.edu
Office: 315.443.2228
PROGRAM AFFILIATIONS
LGBTQ Studies
Education
- Ph.D. Women’s Studies: Emory University, Atlanta, GA (1997)
Dissertation:Dividing Lines and Binding Words: Border Subjectivity in Contemporary Canadian and American Literature - B.A. Humanistic Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1991) Graduated with Great Distinction as a University Scholar
Courses
WGS 101 Introduction to Women's & Gender Studies
WGS 301 Feminist Theory
WGS 365 Negotiating Difference: Coming of Age Narratives
WGS 601 Feminist Theory
WGS 740 Feminist Theories of Knowing
Feminist theory and epistemology; Black feminist thought; African American literature; literature & social change; intersectionality; interdisciplinarity.
Recent Articles
Anna Julia Cooper, Archival Absences, and Black Women’s “muffled” Knowledge. Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature (forthcoming).
Vivian M. May and Adela C. Licona. “Together, Working: Relational Matters.” Feminist Formations 30.3 (2018): 125-49.
“Anna Julia Cooper’s Black Feminist Love-Politics.” Hypatia 32.1 (2017): 35-53.
“Under-Theorized and Under-Taught: Re-Examining Harriet Tubman’s Place in Women’s Studies.” Meridians 12.2 (2014): 28-49.
“‘Speaking into the void’? Intersectionality Critiques and Epistemic Backlash.” Hypatia 29.1 (2014): 94-112.
“Writing the Self into Being: Anna Julia Cooper’s Textual Politics.” African American Review 43.1 (2009): 17-34.
“Anna Julia Cooper's Philosophy of Resistance: ‘What is needed, perhaps, to reverse the picture of the lordly man slaying the lion, is for the lion to turn painter.’” Philosophia Africana 12.1 (2009): 41-66.
Recent Book Chapters
“Anna Julia Cooper on Slavery’s Afterlife: Can International Thought Hear her ‘muffled’ Voice?” Toward a History of Women’s International Thought. Ed. Patricia Owens and Katharina Rietzler. Forthcoming 2020, Cambridge University Press.
[Reprint] “Intersectionality.” Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic & Contemporary Readings (6th ed). Ed. Susan Shaw, Janet Lee. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2015. In section two, “Systems of Power and Inequality,” pp. 79-84.
“Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964): Black Feminist Scholar, Educator, and Activist.” North Carolina Women: Their Lives and Times. Ed. Michele Gillespie, Sally McMillen. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2014. 192-212.
“Historicizing Intersectionality as Theory and Method: Returning to the Work of Anna Julia Cooper.” Interconnections: Gender and Race in American History. Ed. Carol Faulkner, Victoria Wolcott, Alison Parker. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2012. 17-50.
“Intersectionality.” Rethinking Women’s and Gender Studies. Ed. Catherine Orr, Ann Braithwaite, Diane Lichtenstein. New York: Routledge, 2012. 155-172.
“Intellectual Genealogies, Intersectionality, and Anna Julia Cooper.” Feminist Solidarity at the Crossroads: Intersectional Women’s Studies for Transracial Alliance. Ed. Kim Marie Vaz, Gary L. Lemons. New York: Routledge, 2012. 59-71.
[Reprint] “Thinking from the Margins, Acting at the Intersections: Anna Julia Cooper’s A Voice from the South.” The Philosophy of Race. 4 volume set. Ed. Paul C. Taylor. New York: Routledge, 2012.
(Jan. 18, 2024)
The event series will showcase how the humanities are pivotal to tackling a range of contemporary matters, including environmental and reproductive justice questions.
(Jan. 18, 2024)
Krushil Watene, Māori scholar from Aotearoa New Zealand, is the 2024 Jeannette K. Watson Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities, March 18-29.
(Sept. 5, 2023)
The Syracuse University Humanities Center celebrates the evolution of Syracuse Symposium this year, with offerings that include the SU Human Rights Film Festival, a Peter B. Jones art exhibit, and a mini-seminar, “All Writing is Environmental Writing.”
(May 11, 2023)
The in-person reception featured nearly 50 books by SU authors spotlighting a range of cutting-edge research across campus.
(April 5, 2023)
Expanded Performing Identities Across Cultures a CNY Humanities Corridor Signature Event
(April 14, 2022)
Thanks to this support, recipients are positioned for success in their fields.
(Sept. 9, 2021)
2021-22 Syracuse Symposium explores the theme “Conventions.”
(Dec. 9, 2020)
Authors build rewarding collaborations through the Corridor's working group structure.
(Sept. 29, 2020)
This year’s fully virtual Syracuse Symposium provides inspiration for a more equitable future.
(Feb. 5, 2020)
Dozens of volunteers preserved the works of an important early Black feminist educator, activist and author.
(Nov. 28, 2018)
Cohort illustrates humanities' 'breadth and relevance,' says center director
(Oct. 9, 2018)
University celebrates 'importance of culture' with spate of events, activities
(May 2, 2018)
Humanistic research thrives at Syracuse, thanks to collaborations with artists, scientists, engineers, librarians
(April 20, 2018)
Continued funding critical for humanities research, Gerald Greenberg says
(April 12, 2018)
Event will honor more than 50 scholars who published books in 2017
(March 16, 2018)
UC Berkeley professor is Jeanette K. Watson Distinguished Visiting Professor in Humanities
(Feb. 7, 2018)
Teatro La María will explore notions of 'Belonging' through performances, panel discussions
(Jan. 22, 2018)
Maria Carson, T.J. West are 'University citizens,' Humanities Center director says
(April 12, 2017)
Event features new titles by 37 authors in 25 departments, programs at Syracuse
(Jan. 10, 2017)
Humanities Center director an expert on black feminist educator Anna Julia Cooper
(June 17, 2015)
Women’s studies professor understands ‘visionary, strategic leadership,’ says A&S dean
(Jan. 27, 2015)
Renowned scholar calls May’s book ‘a must-read for scholars and practitioners committed to social justice movements and anti-oppression ideologies