Megan Tusler

Assistant Instructional Professor, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, Department of English Language and Literature, The College

Affiliate Faculty, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture

I received my PhD in English from the University of Chicago in 2015, where I have taught courses in comparative ethnic literature, the American novel and photography, and literary culture and urbanism. My undergraduate degrees from Mills College are in English and Ethnic Studies. My dissertation, American Snapshot: Urban Space and the Minor Archive, argues that minor and counter-culture movements in the 20th century US produce new versions of archiving in response to social crisis, particularly through the mode of the photo-text. My current monograph, On Other Loathing, explores race, misanthropy, and negative affect in the ethnic American novel. I am currently at work on two essay projects; one is a literary genealogy of the kitchenette apartment in American urban space and the other a piece on the western and liberal sentimentality in the 1950s. I have also volunteered in the curatorial department at the Chicago History Museum and been a Newberry Library fellow in the Ayer Collection of American Indian Studies. I enjoy sewing, thrift shopping, and Windy City Soul Club, and am the co-host of the podcast “Better Read than Dead: Literature from a Left Perspective.” I am a member of Faculty Forward/SEIU Local 73, the contingent faculty union at the University of Chicago.

Co-host of the podcast “Better Read than Dead: Literature from a Left Perspective.” 
 

Monster Fictions (Winter 2026)
(ENGL 26240/46240) Crosslistings: MAPH 46240

This course introduces students to horror fiction from 1796 to the present by studying three categories of monster: zombies, vampires, and demons. We will interrogate these figures through theoretical lenses like psychoanalysis and Marxist criticism to attend to the historical genealogy of the production of horror types. Authors include Matthew Lewis, Colson Whitehead, and Octavia Butler; filmmakers include George Romero and William Peter Blatty. (Fiction, 18th/19th 20th/21st)

Prerequisites: Open to MAPH students: 3rd and 4th years in the College email 2-3 sentences about why you want to take the course for consent.

Photography, Modern Literature, and the Archive (Spring 2026)
(ENGL 21822/41822) Crosslistings: MAPH 41822

This course, co-taught between English and Art History, considers art and social photography alongside works of prose, poetry, and fiction from the United States. We will consider: what critical methods might bridge literature, art history, and cultural studies? Why study works of art and literature together? How might captions and placards be considered critical writing? The course will include museum and archival visits to help students learn further research skills in the disciplines. Co-taught with MAPH Preceptor Carl Fuldner.