Along with being an assistant professor of English and African Studies, DeLisa D. Hawkes Ph.D. is a faculty fellow for the UT Humanities Center. Hawkes’ research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited collections, including  J19, MELUS, Langston Hughes Review, Studies in the Fantastic, North Carolina Literary Review, among many others. She has received several awards and grants to assist her in her research including the Research Development Academy, the Southeastern Conference Visiting Faculty Travel Grant, and the First Book Institute, Center for American Literary Studies, Penn State University.

Her current book project examines how authors of the New Negro Renaissance used their writings to make strides towards anti-colonial thinking within Black American communities through their discussions about Black and Indigenous opposition to white-settler colonialism and white supremacy. Her project is also interested in how these texts influence narratives of racial identity and kinship in the United States.