About Me

Aisha Matthews

Founder, CEO, and Chief Editor

Aisha Matthews is the former Managing Editor of the MOSF Journal of Science Fiction and Director of Literary Programming for the Museum of Science Fiction’s annual Escape Velocity Conference. As an independent scholar, her research centers on science and speculative fictions, cultural futurisms (most specifically, Afrofuturism), African American literature, feminist theory, biopolitics, disability studies, and literary postmodernism. In addition to various journal publications, her first book chapter, “Conspiracies of the Flesh: Disciplinary Power and Female Embodiment in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale,” was published in the collection, Critical Insights: Conspiracies in 2020. As a public speaker, Aisha has given interviews with local DC media outlet, Behind the Mind Radio, and most recently, on NPR’s Science Friday series to discuss New Suns, a collection of speculative fiction by people of color edited by Nisi Shawl. Perhaps most importantly, Aisha is committed to the advancement of antiracist pedagogy and inclusive practices within the academy and its surrounding institutions. Learn more about her work at www.aishamatthews.com.

Education

PhD Study, Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies
University of Maryland, College Park

Study Emphases: Black Feminist Thought, Ontoepistemology, Biopolitics, Disability Studies, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, YA SF, Afrofuturism

August 2021 – Present

PhD Study, English
Southern Methodist University

Study Emphases: 20th/21st-Century American Literature, African American Literature, Women’s & Gender Studies, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, YA SF, Afrofuturism

August 2017- December 2019

Master of Arts, English

Southern New Hampshire University

Thesis: “Telepaths, Social Constructs, and Panoptical Power in Octavia Butler’s Patternist Series”; Advisor: Mark Schiffman

Study Emphases: African-American Literature, Feminism, Deconstruction Theory, Literary Postmodernism, Lacanian Psychoanalysis, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction

June 2015 – January 2017

Bachelor of Arts
Yale University

Senior Thesis: “Taking Back the Darkness: The Young Adult Science Fiction of Scott Westerfeld in the Larger Narrative of Dsytopian Literature”; Advisor: Alfred Guy

Study Emphases: 19th-Century British Literature, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Dystopia, Young Adult Literature

August 2009 – May 2013

Work Experience

December 2019 –

Present

Editing by Aisha
Full-Time Freelance Editor

I started my business after my personal circumstances changed in 2019, and have since built a bather robust list of clients for which I have done a variety of different projects. I edit dissertations, academic articles, admission materials, web copy, press releases, blog articles, memoirs, instruction manuals, self help books, and fiction books of every possible length and subject.

August 2024 –

January 2025

University of Maryland, College Park

Teaching Assistant

Taught section of WGSS 105: Introduction to Disability Studies.

January 2019 –

December 2022

Journal of Science Fiction

Managing Editor & Layout Editor

Responsible for editorial and managerial aspects of journal management, including oversight of editorial workflow, management of editorial staff and affiliates, special issue development, editorial direction of the publication, and publication layout.

Previous Positions

Assistant Managing Editor (June 2017 – January 2019)

Editor (November 2016 – June 2017)

August 2018 –

May 2019

Southern Methodist University

Instructor

Taught DISC 1312 & 1313 (SMU’s introductory composition and rhetoric course) to incoming freshmen as instructor of record.

November 2017 –

Present

Museum of Science Fiction

Director of Literary Programming,

Escape Velocity Conference

Responsible for planning, management, and execution of all literature programming for annual Escape Velocity Conference, both in-person and online. Duties include selection of panel programming topics and speakers, coordination of panelist communication, discussion facilitation, and on the ground tactical execution of live events.

Previous Positions

Literature Programming Coordinator (February 2017 – November 2017)

March 2016 –

August 2018

Millward Brown

Executive Assistant

Provided administrative and project-related support to Chief Research Officer at Market Research Firm fulfilling duties including scheduling of domestic and international travel, expenses, and creating SalesForce reports. This position began as a traditional in-office role but transformed into a virtual one, giving me experience with self-management and long-distance accountability.

January 2015 –

September 2015

Bridgewater Associates

Strategist Coordinator

Provided administrative support and leverage to a high-level financial analyst, scheduling/calendaring, creating organizational tools, tracking project development, handling various requests, handling meeting logistics, and coordinating various levels of staff.

May 2014 –

October 2016

Bad Kids Collective

PR Manager

Start-up EDM clothing line and lifestyle brand providing resources, events, and products catered towards the EDM community. Responsibilities included oversight of all business communications, development of press materials and relationship building with press contacts, event planning, management, and execution, and promotion of brand awareness.

June 2013 –

December 2013

Porter Novelli

Account Coordinator

Worked for clients including HP, Timberland, British Airways, Nature Made, Sony PS4, Exxon Mobil, McDonald’s, and Consolidated Data Services (CDS). Responsibilities included travel booking for VP-level staff and industry talent including flight, hotel, and car service,
email correspondence with C-level executives, media, and clients, project management duties, event planning duties, and media relations duties (including pitching, building media lists, competitor research, pre and post-event set-up and breakdown.

Publications

“Afrofuturism” and “The Fifth Season.” This is Not a Science Fiction Textbook. Goldsmiths Press.

2024

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me (Double) Consciousness: Literacy, Orality, Print, and the Cultural Formation of Black American Identity in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Octavia Butler’s Kindred.” Third Stone.

2021

“Conspiracies of the Flesh: Disciplinary Power and Female Embodiment in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.” Critical Insights: Conspiracies. Ed. Jim Plath. Salem/Grey House Publishing.

2020

“Gender, Ontology, and The Power of the Patriarchy: A Postmodern Feminist Analysis of Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.” Women’s Studies: An Inter-Disciplinary Journal, vol. 47, no. 6. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2018.1492403.

2018

“Telepaths, Social Constructs, and Panoptical Power in Octavia Butler’s Patternist Series.” Order No. 10259208 Southern New Hampshire University. Ann Arbor: ProQuest.

2017

“Looking Back is Moving Forward: The Legacy of Negro Spirituals in the Civil Rights Movement.” International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities, vol. 4, no. 10.

2016

“Raping the Jezebel: Hypocrisy, Stereotyping and Sexual Identity in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities, vol. 4, no. 5.