JUSTIN OMAR JOHNSTON

Associate Professor
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2012
Contemporary Anglophone literature; biopolitics and biotechnology in post-1945 novels; feminist theories of embodiment; postcolonial critiques of humanism; environmental humanities
Humanities 1087
Justin.Johnston@stonybrook.edu

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• Biography

   Biography

  Justin Omar Johnston is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Stony Brook University. His book Posthuman Capital and Biotechnology in Contemporary Novels (Palgrave, 2019) examines how clones, animal-human hybrids, and toxic bodies have proliferated across a variety of internationally acclaimed literary texts during the 21st century. These bodies are entangled with the history of 20th century biopolitics, even as they anticipate still emergent forms of subjectivity. Johnston has also published on Richard Powers, Pat Barker, Indra Sinha, and Zadie Smith. He has two forthcoming chapters in Medicine and Literature, “The Human Endeavor: Bioethics and Biocapitalism in Don DeLillo’s Zero K” (Cambridge University Press), and Approaches to Teaching the Works of Margaret Atwood, “Teaching Oryx and Crake in a Science and Literature Course During a Pandemic” (MLA). His new book project, Helio Fictions: Imagining Solar Power in Contemporary Literature focuses on “solarity” and plant life in a number of recent novels. Johnston teaches a range of courses on Anglophone and Postcolonial literature, Science and Literature, 20th Century Literature, and Critical Theory. His work reflects his sustained passion for the fields of feminist body theory, postcolonial criticism, animal studies, and ecocriticism. 

• Education

  EDUCATION

  Ph.D. University of Wisconsin;
  Literary Studies Graduate Minor: Philosophy of the Body 
  Dissertation: The Prosthetic Novel and Posthuman Bodies: Literature and Biotechnology in the 21st Century. (2012)

  M.A. University of Wisconsin; 
  Literary Studies (2004)

  B.A. University of Wisconsin; 
  English (1998-2002)

• Academic Awards and Fellowships

  ACADEMIC AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

  Vollrath Dissertation Fellowship, English Department Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2011).

  Advanced Opportunity Graduate Research Fellowship for Underrepresented Students, Graduate Program at University of Wisconsin-Madison (2009).

  Selected by The Centre for Humanities at Utrecht University, Netherlands, for Elizabeth Grosz’s Masterclass Seminar, “The Future of Feminist Studies” (2007).

• Selected Publications

  SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  Forthcoming: Johnston, Justin Omar. “The Human Aliment: A Nother World in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People." Twentieth-Century Literature. Duke University Press.

  Under Review: Johnston, Justin Omar. “A Feeling of Attachment: The Politics of Fences in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” Modern Fiction Studies. Purdue University Press.

  Johnston, Justin Omar. “Interracial Identity in Richard Power’s The Time of Our Singing.”Diesis: Footnotes on Literary Identities 1.1 (2011).  http://www.diesisjournal.org

  Johnston, Justin Omar. “Interracial Identity in Richard Power’s The Time of Our Singing.”  Diesis: Footnotes on Literary Identities 1.1 (2011).

  Johnston, Justin Omar. “Three Postindustrial Manifestos: Deleuze, Haraway, and Preciado.”  Puerto Del Sol: A Journal of New Literature (Forthcoming). New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM.

• Conference Papers and Presentations

  CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

  “Petrochemical Animals and Non-Human Elements in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People.” ASLE. University of Idaho; Moscow, Idaho. June 23-27, 2015.

  “Biotechnology and the Legacy of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth: What is Left of Multiculturalism?” NeMLA. Toronto, April 30- May 3, 2015.

  “Futures of Bewilderment in Charlie Booker’s Black Mirror and Colson Whitehead’s Zone One.” NeMLA. Toronto, April 30- May 3, 2015.

  “Behavioral Economics and Dystopian Narratives.” ACLA. University of Washington; Seattle, March 26-29, 2015.

  “Genre and Bewilderment in Charlie Booker’s Black Mirror and Colson Whitehead’s Zone One.” Southwest Popular Culture Conference. Al. February 11-15, 2015.

  “Research and Teaching Statements in the Arts and Humanities.” Center for Inclusive Education (CIE) Faculty Career Week. Stony Brook University; New York. May 7, 2014.

  “The Human Ailment and the ‘Nother World’ in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People. ACLA: New York University; New York. March 17, 2014.

  “Postcolonial Environmentalism and the Question of the Posthuman in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People.” Invited Lecture; State University of New York, Stony Brook. February 6, 2012.

  “Prosthetic Regimes of Power and Knowledge: Biotechnology and Posthuman Bodies.” Mellon Panel: What is the Posthuman? Posthuman Futures: Emerging Work Across the Disciplines; University of Wisconsin, Madison; April 21, 2009.

  “Transforming Risk in Posthuman Bodies: An Analysis of Control in Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” The Inhuman: Investigating Continental Thought in the Humanities; York University, Toronto; October 3-4, 2008

  “1984 and the Heterosexual State.” The 3rd Annual MadLit Conference on Language and Literature: Re-imagining, Re-inventing, and Re-reading; University of Wisconsin, Madison; April 19-21, 2007

  “Writing in Public: The Profession of Literature,” Moderator. The Contemporary Literature Colloquium: University of Wisconsin, Madison; September 15, 2005.

• Courses

  COURSES
  

  Fall 2013 
  

  English 320:  Contemporary Anglophone Novel 
  English 376:  Postcolonial Literatures

  Spring 2013

  English 192.3:  Introduction to Fiction, "21st Century Novels and Techno-Bodies" 
  English 394:  "Literature and Science: Cells, Animals, Environments"

  Fall 2012

  English 192.5:  Introduction to Fiction, "21st Century Novels and Post-Apocalyptic Anxiety" 
  English 192.7:  Introduction to Fiction, "21st Century Novels and Post-Apocalyptic Anxiety"