Dr. Patricia A. Matthew is Associate Professor of English at Montclair State University and Director of the Race and Regency Lab. 

Dr. Matthew has published extensively on British Romanticism, British abolition literature and culture, and the history of the novel. Her book, “And freedom the slave”: Gender and the Afterlives of Abolition is forthcoming from Princeton University Press. She is also editing new critical editions of Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park.

She has also written extensively in public forums on issues of higher education, race and media, and faculty hiring and retention.

In the excerpts below, Dr. Matthew discusses Austen’s immense malleability, her importance to contemporary students, and the challenges of hiring and retaining faculty of color.

You can also access Dr. Matthew’s YouTube playlist directly.

Dr. Patricia A. Matthew discusses the “Austen Universe”

Dr. Patricia A. Mattew discusses the immense malleability of Jane Austen

Dr. Patricia A. Matthew discusses Austen’s anomalous cultural status

Dr. Patricia A. Matthew reflects on the legacy of her influential essay, “Jane Austen and the Abolitionist Turn” (2019)

Dr. Patricia A. Matthew considers how Austen informs the challenge of retaining Black colleagues within institutions of higher learning