Teaching Philosophy
I am honored to teach in a program that strives for accessibility, is a site for alternative education that’s rooted in decolonization/re-Indigenizing practices which aim to upend oppressiveness in all its forms. I love how queer and trans our program is, how creative we are, how learners who feel put down by normative education are uplifted and celebrated for our neurodiversity, the hybridity of our work, and the experiment that is what we make or how we make it. I have this deep belief: the field of creative writing, all fields, are more brilliant and more expansive because of the contributions of our Goddard community.
Education
Postdoc Fellowship, The Dana and David Dornsife Teaching Postdoctoral Fellowship in Gender Studies, University of Southern California, 2021
PhD, European Graduate School, 2018
MFA in Creative Writing, California Institute of the Arts, 2014
BA in Independent Studies, Goddard College, 2011
Areas of Expertise
- Creative Nonfiction
- Memoir
- Transgender Studies
- Hybrid theory
- Hybrid genre
- Disability Scholarship
- Queer Theory
- Ethnic/Romani Diaspora Studies
- Poetry
- Multidisciplinary Art Practices
- Art Writing
Pronouns: He or They
Meaningful Action in the World
All that I do is an integration of my academic work and my work in the world.
Publications
Daddy Boy (McSweeney’s 2023)
Heaven (McSweeney’s, 2020)
Ghost Box (Timeless Infinite Light, 2014)

emerson.whitney@goddard.edu Website
Affiliation BA Health Arts & Sciences
BA Sustainability
BFA Creative Writing
BFA Socially Engaged Art
Individualized Bachelor of Arts
Undergraduate Studies Program
Location Plainfield, Vermont