Shanita “NitaJade” Jackson
About NitaJade:
NitaJade (they/she) is an Affrilachian Poet and a self-proclaimed weirdo hailing from Asheville, NC. NitaJade earned their BA in African and African American Studies from Berea College in 2019. In 2022, they earned their MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from the University of Kentucky. Directly after graduate school, NitaJade served as the Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Centre College. In August 2023, they joined Emory & Henry’s faculty as an Assistant Professor of English. They aspire to embody the aesthetics of sloths and narwhals (slarwhals, if you please.) They laugh loudly and stubbornly.
Want to learn more?
Click here to view NitaJade’s CV.
Education
University of Kentucky | Master of Fine Arts: Creative Writing Poetry — May 2019
Thesis — FleshCrawl: a collection of revised poems that center on the physical, mental, and spiritual phenomena that occur whenever one’s “flesh crawls.” The themes of the collection include ancestral epigenetics, mental health, queer identity, family, supernatural spirituality, and superstition.
Berea College | Bachelor of Arts: African & African-American Studies — May 2019
Senior Capstone — Black Pedagogy Matters: (re)examining the learning and teaching philosophies and practices involving BIPOC students.
Junior Capstone — Masculinity in the Moonlight: an analysis of Black masculine complexes through the lens of the film Moonlight.
Teaching
Emory & Henry:
ENGL 322-01: Writing Poetry
ENGL 100-05: Foundations of Writing
CORE 100-18: Biomythographies: Creativity & Identity
Centre College:
Spoken Word: an Underrecognized Genre of Poetry
Affrilachian Poets
Ekphrasis - Art & Creative Writing
Intro to Creative Writing
University of Kentucky
Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies
Intro to Creative Writing
Research
Poetry, BIPOC Pedagogy, African-American Studies, Black Appalachia, Africana Studies, Queer Studies, Epigenetics/Generational Trauma
Professional Experience
Click here to view NitaJade’s CV.
Open gallery
