Ryan Poll | NEIU

Expertise

U.S. literature and culture, critical theory, popular culture and cultural studies.

Courses Taught

ENGL 482 Contemporary Poetic Forms

ENGL 480 Ethnic Literatures

ENGL 476 Oil Fictions: Reading Along the Transnational Pipelines

ENGL 456A Graphic Novels and Social Conflicts

ENGL 449M The Literary Small Town in the Age of Globalization

ENGL 430 Studies in Literary Criticism

ENGL 413 Crafting Literary, Cultural and Compositional Fields

ENGL 411A Cultural and Literary Studies: History, Theory, Practice

ENGL 410 Literary Methods and Practices

ENGL 402 Ecological Crises and Narratives

ENGL 390 Young Adult Novel

ENGL 380 Multi-Cultural Literature in America

ENGL 379 Twentieth Century Fiction II

ENGL 356A The Graphic Novel

ENGL 354 Star Wars: Narratives, Politics, and Economics of a Billion-Dollar, Multi-Media Franchise

ENGL 352 Jewish-American Literature: People of the Books

ENGL 345 Practical Criticism

ENGL 343 Global Ecologies: U.S. Literature in the Age of Environmentalism

ENGL 316 Forms of Poetry

ENGL 311 Introduction to Popular Culture Studies

ENGL 302 Literatures and Theories of Love

ENGL 301A Special Topics in Literature and Culture

ENGL 219 American Literature: 1865-Present

ENGL 218 American Literature: Beginnings-1865

ENGL 210 Methods for English Major

Research Interests

Narratives and cultures of globalization; cultural geographies and ecologies; energy cultures; working-class narratives; media studies; poetic forms

Education

Ph.D. English with Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory, University of California, Davis, 2009

Selected Publications

Ryan is also a staff writer at PopMatters.

Books

Main Street and Empire: The Fictional Small Town in the Age of Globalization (Rutgers University Press, 2012)

Aquaman and the War on Oceans: Comics Activism in the Anthropocene (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2023)

Journal Articles/Book Chapters

“The Rising Tide of Neoliberalism: Attica Locke’s Black Water Rising and the Segregated Geographies of Globalization” in Class and Culture in Crime Fiction: Essays on Works in English Since the 1970s (McFarland & Company, 2014)

“The Boss and the Workers: Bruce Springsteen as Blue-Collar Icon” in Blue Collar Pop Culture: From NASCAR to the Jersey Shore (Praeger, 2012)

"Can One Get Out? The Aesthetics of Afro-Pessimism," Journal of Midwest Modern Language Association, Special Issue: "Arts and Activism" (Fall 2019)

"Neoliberal Heroes:Clint Eastwood's Sully and the Haunting of History." The Journal of Popular Culture, Special Edition: Neoliberalism and Popular Culture," (April 2018)

"Lynn Nottage's Theatre of Genocide: Ruined, Rape, and Afropessimism." Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 35.1 (2020): 81-105.

r-poll@neiu.edu

Room LWH 2024
Northeastern Illinois University
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5824

Office Hours

Spring 2024 Student Hours
Mondays: 6:00–7:00 p.m. (in office)
Tuesdays: 1:00–2:00 p.m. (via Zoom)
Wednesdays: 1:00–2:00 p.m. (in office)

Main Campus