prof. Raymond Malewitz

Raymond Malewitz is an Associate Professor of English at Oregon State University. He is the author of The Practice of Misuse: Rugged Consumerism in Contemporary American Culture (Stanford University Press, 2014) and has published essays in journals such as PMLA, Critical Inquiry, Modern Fiction Studies, and Configurations and in popular news outlets such as The Washington Post. His current book project is a cultural history of animal diseases and their management. 

Role at the ASC

Fulbright Distinguished Chair of American Studies at the University of Warsaw during the Spring term 2022; he will teach two classes and deliver a lecture for the American Studies Colloquium Series

Achievements

Member of the Executive Council of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts Association (2018-present)

Invited Lecturer at Beijing Normal University, China (“Posthumanism in Contemporary American Literature,” 6 Lectures in 2018)

Founder of the Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms Public Outreach Project

Publications

“On the origin of ‘Oops’: The Language and Literature of Animal Disease“ Critical Inquiry 45.4 (2019): 839-858.

“Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table: Chemistry as Posthumanist Science.” Configurations 24.4 (2016): 417-440.

“Climate-Change Infrastructure and the Volatilization of Contemporary American Regionalism.” Modern Fiction Studies 61.4 (2015): 715-730.

“‘Some new dimension devoid of hip and bone’: Remediated Bodies and Digital Posthumanism in Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story.” Arizona Quarterly 71.4 (2015): 107-127.

“Narrative Disruption as Animal Agency in Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing.” Modern Fiction Studies 60.3 (2014): 544-561. Reprinted in Philosophical Approaches to Cormac McCarthy: Beyond Reckoning.  New York: Routledge, 2017.

The Practice of Misuse: Rugged Consumerism in Contemporary American Culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014.

“Regeneration Through Misuse: Rugged Consumerism in Contemporary American Culture.” PMLA 127.3 (2012): 526-541. Reprinted in Literary Criticism: Chuck Palahniuk. New York: Cengage, 2014.

Courses (selected)

BA elective “What Is Posthumanism?”

Research Proseminar “Human and Animal Pandemics within North America”

Hobbies

I like getting out into nature as often as possible. Hiking, fishing, and kayaking are some of my favorite outdoor activities.