Catherine Gooch is an Assistant Professor of English, specializing in Southern Literature, African American studies, Appalachian Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Social Theory. She earned her PhD in English from University of Kentucky in 2019. Her most recent work appears in Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment and Comparative American Studies. Her current project, The Black Pastoral: Reclaiming Southern Landscapes in African American Literature, challenges the traditional literary notions of the “pastoral” by considering how Black authors, artists, and musicians redefine the southern environment in empowering ways in order to lend nuance to the lived experience of Black southerners and illustrate complex affective ties to the land. Catherine is a born and raised Kentuckian. She loves Ale-8 (IYKYK), crystals, and 90s hip-hop.