Zac Thriffiley

I work broadly in multi-ethnic American literature from the 20th and 21st centuries, specializing in Arab American literature from these periods. My dissertation explores how and why Arab American literature published after 1970 has struggled to find acceptance within American literary and educational institutions. I argue that this institutional exclusion is the result of an unfamiliarity with traditional Arab literary forms as well as anxieties over how to confront political and military conflicts in the Middle East and larger Arab world.


My interests are:

• 20th and 21st American literature
• Arab American literature
• Postcolonial theory
• Queer theory
• Ethnic studies