Education and Experience

• Ph.D., University of California Berkeley
• M.A., Georgia State University
• B.A., Clark Atlanta University

Before joining the Department of African American Studies at VCU in 2020, Gipson served as a Frederick Douglass Institute (FDI) for African and African American Studies postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester and a visiting lecturer at Georgia State University.

Research Interests

Gipson is Black future feminist/pop culture scholar whose research explores Black popular culture, digital humanities, representations of race and gender within comic books, Afrofuturism, and race and new media. Her current book project seeks to explore Black female identities as personified in comics and fandom culture. A second project examines how online Black female academic and popular networks produce cultural and technical capital, which act as safe spaces that showcase, interrogate, and celebrate the blending of popular culture and the academy. Outside the classroom, you can find Gipson collecting comic books, ticket stubs to the latest movie, stamps on her international travel discoveries, participating as part of the #BlackComicsChat podcast crew, and giving back to the community through a myriad of projects and organizations.

Select Publications

• Gipson, G. D. (2019). Creating and Imagining Black Futures through Afrofuturism. In De Kosnik, A. & Feldman, K. (Eds.), #identity: Hashtagging Race, Gender, Sex, and Nation (pp. 84-103). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
• Gipson, G. D. (2018, Fall). "She Makes Comics" (2014) [Film Review]. Films for the Feminist Classroom, 8(1-2).
• Gipson, G. D. (2018, Fall). "Wonder Woman! The True Story of American Superheroines" (2012) [Film Review]. Films for the Feminist Classroom, 8(1-2).
• Gipson, G. D. (2018, August 3). Disability, Race, and Gender in Speculative Fiction, AAIHS/Black Perspectives [Academic Web Blog post].
• Gipson, G. D. (2017, November 20). The Life and Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks, AAIHS/Black Perspectives [Academic Web Blog post].
• Gipson, G. D. (2016). Afro-Futurism’s Musical Princess Janelle Monae: Psychadelic Soul Message Music Infused with a Sci-Fi Twist. In R. In Anderson & C. E. In Jones (Eds.), Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness, Vol. I (pp. 91-108). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books-Rowman & Littlefield.

Forthcoming Publications

• [Book Chapter] Gipson, G. D. “The Smartest Person in the Marvel Universe.” In Carr, B.J. & Cartarphen, M. (Ed.) Gendered Defenders: Feminism and the Heroines of the Marvel Universe, (Forthcoming Fall 2020)
• [Book Chapter] Gipson, G. D. “Step into the Spotlight: Introducing Marvel Comics ‘Adored Ones’ the Dora Milaje.” In Serrano, J. (Ed.) Panthering Futurity. (Forthcoming Vernon Press, Fall 2020)
• [Book Chapter] Gipson, G. D. “Diversity and Representations of Blackness in Comic Books.” In Davidson, J. (Ed.) African American Studies (Edited Volume-2nd edition), (Forthcoming, Edinburgh University Press, Fall 2020)