Shannon Branfield, PhD, is a Visiting Instructor of English in the Department of Languages, Literature, and Mass Communication at Colorado Mesa University. Currently, she teaches composition courses, Introduction to Literature, and Mythology. Through a focus on a multiplicity of perspectives and the ongoing negotiation of cultural narratives, she encourages her students to see themselves as active members of a cultural community and to use their media literacy to be aware of the narratives that impact themselves and others. At the end of the class, students engage as artists themselves and create their own work inspired by the course texts, adding their voices to the cultural conversation.
Her primary areas of research include 19th century British literature, masculinities studies, and contemporary popular culture. Her dissertation research focused on examining the instability of masculinity in the Victorian world, as reflected in Victorian sensation fiction. Her current research focuses on the politics of contemporary fantasy by authors of color.
As a first-generation college student, she understands the obstacles many students face and works to increase access to education. As a teacher, her goal is to create an inclusive environment where students encounter a variety of perspectives in order to challenge their preconceptions and see themselves as members of a global community. Her classes center on three fundamental questions: What perspective is this from? What else is this connected to? What if things were different? This emphasis on perspective and potential underlies her focus on genre fiction as a means for exploring cultural narratives of race, gender, and sexuality.
Through literature and popular culture, students encounter diverse experiences in order to understand both prevailing narratives and the ways in which authors throughout history have contested, negotiated, and rewritten them. After spending the semester exploring the relationships between cultural narratives, representation, social context, and varying audience positionality, students contribute to the cultural conversation as creators, not merely consumers, and design the creative project of their choice. This focus on guiding students to tailor the assignments to their own interest is intrinsic to her commitment to support students as they take an active role in their education.