Rebecca Wanzo

Rebecca Ann Wanzo (born 1975) is an American academic specializing in African-American literature and culture, critical race theory, fan studies, and feminist theory. She is a professor and chair of the women, gender, and sexuality studies department at Washington University in St. Louis. Wanzo's 2020 book, The Content of Our Caricature: African American Comic Art and Political Belonging, won the Eisner Award for Best Academic/Scholarly Work.

Early life and education Wanzo was born 1975 in Dayton, Ohio. She graduated from Colonel White High School in 1993. Her senior honors thesis advisor was Andrew Cayton who described Wanzo as, "...one of the three or four best students I've seen in 17 years of teaching." Wanzo was one of 95 students nationwide to win a Mellon Fellowship in humanistic studies. Her dissertation was titled The reading cure and other sentimental interventions: reading contemporary sentimentality through African American women's narratives. Her doctoral advisor was Wahneema H. Lubiano.

Career Wanzo joined Ohio State University in 2003 as an assistant professor in the departments of women's studies and African American and African studies. She was promoted to associate professor in the departments of women's studies and English in 2009.

Selected works