2026-27 Mergen-Palmer Distinguished Lecture, Part I // Prof. Justin L. Mann

Prof. Mann's lecture, entitled “Getting Lost in the Dark,” analyzes two texts, Victor La Valle and Dietrich Smith’s graphic novel Destroyer and the Russo Brothers Captain America: The Winter Soldier to show how Black speculative fictions reimagine the possibilities, limits, and potential ends of the American security state.
Justin L. Mann (he/him) is an Associate Professor and scholar of Black feminist literary and cultural studies at Northwestern University. His book Breaking the World: Black Insecurity and the Horizons of Speculative Fiction (Duke University Press, March 2026) argues that Black speculative fictions are an essential but overlooked archive for understanding the United States’ security ambitions since the Reagan administration. His work has appeared in American Quarterly, MELUS, GLQ, Feminist Theory, and ASAP.
Justin Mann Faculty Page
Justin Mann Website