Title
Associate Professor and Graduate CoordinatorOffice Building
Pugsley CenterOffice
425Mailing Address
Pugsley Cont Ed Center 425English-Box 2218
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007
Biography
Paul Baggett is associate professor and graduate coordinator of English and Interdisciplinary Studies. He specializes in American literature and culture from the 19th century to the present. His research includes studies in American literary naturalism, African American literature, American Indian and other Indigenous literatures and Western American literature, with particular interests in the intersections of literature, human rights and environmental justice. His work has appeared in The Oxford Handbook of Jack London (Oxford, 2017), The Nonhuman in American Literary Naturalism (Lexington Books, 2023), and New Approaches to the Doppelganger in Literature and Culture (Routledge, forthcoming in 2026).Education
- B.A. in english | University of California, Irvine
- M.A. in english | California State University, Long Beach
- Ph.D. in english | University of Miami, Coral Gables
Academic Interests
- American literature and culture
- Literary naturalism
- Environmental literature
- Literature and human rights
- American Indian literature
- African American literature
- Literature of the American west
- South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã literature
Academic Responsibilities
- Graduate coordinator of M.A./M.S. programs in English and interdisciplinary studies
- Affiliated faculty of American Indian Studies
- Affiliated faculty of Honors College
- Peer reviewer for ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment, Studies in American Literary Naturalism, Studies in American Fiction and Fordham UP.
Committees and Professional Memberships
- Modern Language Association
- C19: Society of 19th Century Americanists
- Society for the Study of American Literary Naturalism
- Jack London Society
- Charles Chesnutt Association
- Rebecca Harding Davis Society
à£à£Ö±²¥Ðãs and Honors
- 2023, Excellence in Honors Engagement, Van D. and Barbara B. Fishback Honors College Convocation à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã
- 2019, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science's à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã for Outstanding Service, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University
- 2017, Outstanding Experiential Learning Educators, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University
- 2014, J.P. Hendrickson Faculty Scholar and Herbert Cheever Jr. Liberal Arts Distinguished Lecturer, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University
Publications
Conference Presentations
- âBridging Worlds: Literary Naturalism and Indigenous Knowledge in Diane Wilson's The Seed Keeper,â International Symposium for Teaching American Literary Naturalism in the 21st Century, October 2024, University of GÀvle, Sweden.
- "Anthropomorphism Reconsidered: Nature Faking in Jack Londonâs âAll Gold Canyon.â SDSU Faculty Excellence Expo, February, 2024, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University, Brookings, SD.
- âIs Anything Funny? Exposing the Humor in the Life and Work of Jack London (Roundtable. Panelist). Jack London Society 16th Biennial Symposium, October, 2023, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
- âIn Defense of Anthropomorphism: Jack Londonâs âAll Gold Canyonâ.â Jack London Society 16th Biennial Symposium, October, 2023, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
- âAnthropomorphism Reconsidered: Nature Faking in Jack Londonâs âAll Gold Canyon.â American Literature Association, May, 2023, Boston, MA.
- "Anthropomorphism Reconsidered: The Politics of 'Nature Faking' in Jack London's 'All Gold Canyon'." English Colloquium, February 27, 2023, University of South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã, Vermillion, SD.
- "What We Read in 101 and Why: Stories of Curriculum, A Curriculum of Stories.â Minnesota Writing and English Conference, April 5-6, 2019, Minneapolis, MN.
- "Spectacles of Empire, Empire of Spectacle: Jack London in the South Seas." American Literature Association Conference, May 2018, San Francisco, CA.
- "Corporeal Conundrums of a Famous Author." Jack London Biennial Symposium, September 15-17, 2016, Napa, CA.
- "Jack London and Physical Culture." âJack London and Physical Culture.â American Literature Association Conference, May, 2016, San Francisco, CA.
- âReinvigorating Intellectual Culture in Honors,â National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, November 14, 2015, Chicago, IL.
- "Pushing the Boundaries of Gender and Genre: South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Womenâs Literature. College of Arts and Sciences' J.P. Hendrickson Faculty Scholar award and Herbert Cheever Jr. Liberal Arts Lecture, January, 2014, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University, Brookings, SD.
- âRebecca Harding Davisâs Life in the Age of Occupy.â American Literature Association Annual Conference, May 2013, Boston, MA.
- âNella Larsen and the Ambivalence of Embodied Black Spectacle.â14th Annual Modernist Studies Association: Modernism and Spectacle.â October, 2012, Las Vegas, NV.
- âAesthetics, Politics and the âUnfinished Workâ of the Korl Woman.â Craft, Critique, Culture Conference: The Art of Revolution, March 2012. University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
- âPolitics Through the Back Door: An Inquiry into Chesnuttâs Aesthetic Practice.â American Literature Association Annual Conference, May, 2011. Boston, MA.
- âWhy South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Literature Matters.â Sewrey Colloquium Lecture. February, 2010. South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University, Brookings, SD.
- âAesthetic Autonomy in the Capitalist Public Sphere: Jack Londonâs Martin Eden.â National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference, March 20, 2008, San Francisco, CA.
- âThe Incorporation of the Body of Jack London,â 32nd Modern Literature Conference, Michigan State University, October 23, 1999, East Lansing, MI.
- âTranscending the Boundaries of Nation: Images and Imaginings of Frederick Douglass,â Creighton Conference on Language and Literature, March 20, 1998, Creighton University, Omaha, NE.
- âCaught Between Homes: Mary Seacole and the Question of Cultural Identity,â 17th Annual West Indian Literature Conference, Spring, 1998, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston, Jamaica.
Publications
- âJack Londonâs âMiserable Double[s].â New Approaches to the Doppelganger in Literature and Culture. Eds. Anita Duneer and Pamela Bedore, Routledge Press. (forthcoming in 2026).
- Charmian Kittredge London: Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer, by Iris Jamahl Dunkle (Review). Pacific Northwest Quarterly. (forthcoming).
- âReinvigorating Intellectual Culture in Honors Composition: A Provocation,â with Michael Keller (Writing on the Edge. UC Davis, under review).
- The Complete Works of Jack London, Vol. 7 Editor [Theft: A Four Act Play, The Scorn of Women, Moon-face and Other Stories, and White Fang]. Oxford UP. (forthcoming)
- âAnthropomorphism Reconsidered: 'Nature Faking' in Jack London's 'All Gold Canyon'." The Nonhuman in American Literary Naturalism. Edited by Karin Danielsson and Kenneth Brandt. Lexington Books/Rowman Littlefield, 2023.
- "Jack London and Physical Culture." The Oxford Handbook of Jack London. Ed. Jay Williams. New York: Oxford UP, 2017. 490-504.
- Literature and Photography in Transition, 1850-1915, by Owen Clayton. (Review) Studies in American Naturalism. Ed. Keith Newlin. Volume 11, Number 2 (Winter 2016). 84-88.
- âSouth à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Literature.â Dictionary of Midwestern Literature. Ed. Philip A. Greasley. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016. 792-810.
- âPoetry and Prose in Action: South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Women Writers.â Action, Impact, Voice: Contemporary South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Women. Ed. Meredith Redlin et al. South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Agricultural Museum, 2015. 83-93.
- âCharles Chesnutt and the âProvince of Literatureâ.â North Carolina Literary Review, No. 23, 2014, 80-94.
- Infinite West: Travels in South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã by Fraser Harrison. (review). Great Plains Quarterly, Volume 34, Number 2, Spring 2014, pp. 192-193.
- âCaught Between Homes: Mary Seacole and the Question of Cultural Identity.â MaComére: Journal of the Association of Caribbean Women and Writers and Scholars 3 (2000): 45-56.
- âTranscending the Boundaries of Nation: Images and Imaginings of Frederick Douglass.â In Process: A Journal of African American and African Diasporan Literature and Culture 2 (2000): 103-13.
Department(s)
Image for School of English and Interdisciplinary Studies
School of English and Interdisciplinary Studies