Kristen Reynolds

Assistant Professor

Department of Social and Critical Inquiry

Dr. Kristen Reynolds is an Assistant Professor of American Studies in the Department of Social and Critical Inquiry (SCI) at UConn. She earned her Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2024. Her research utilizes Black speculative literature and culture to interrogate how digital and computational technologies reproduce anti-blackness through their coherence around Sylvia Wynter’s articulation of “Man, over-represented as the human.” Her work thereby seeks to demonstrate how Black speculative literature and culture posits new frameworks for developing technologies that promote Black futures. She teaches courses focused on Utopia/Dystopia, American Studies methods, Black digital humanities and science and technology studies, speculative literature and culture, and courses that allow students to develop and experiment with speculative methods.