Jené Schoenfeld returned to Kenyon in 2008, after three years at the University of Kentucky. In 2004-05, she was a Marilyn Yarborough Dissertation/ Teaching Fellow at Kenyon. She teaches courses in American literature, particularly writers of African descent. Prof. Schoenfeld's teaching and research are fueled by a curiosity about social boundaries, especially the American color line. She specializes in representations of the mulatto in American fiction and culture. Currently, she is working on a book on how, under segregation, the incorporation of the mulatto into the category "black" occasioned a reconsideration of the meaning of blackness itself. The fiction of Frances Harper, Charles Chesnutt, Nella Larsen, Jean Toomer figure prominently into that study. Toni Morrison and William Faulkner are also among Prof. Schoenfeld's intellectual passions.

Areas of Expertise

African American literature, American literature, mixed race

Education

Ph.D. Duke University
M.A. Duke University
B.A. University of California, Berkeley

Courses Taught

English 103: Writing the Race
English 104: The Legacy of Slavery
English 274: Hope and Hate: Reading Race and Reconstruction
English 286: Transgressive Friendships in American Literature
English 374: American Gothic
English 386: Toni Morrison
English 388: Black Women Writers
English 487: The Mulatto in American Fiction