Paul is an English PhD candidate at the Graduate Center, CUNY. His work focuses on the nineteenth-century maritime literature of the Atlantic world and his dissertation explores the popular and sensational maritime literature of the antebellum period. Borrowing the term “paraspace” from literary critic and science fiction author Samuel Delany, he argues that the ship is critical paraspace during this period, layering of queer and intimate relationships which counter hegemonic constructions of race, nationality and gender. He is an IRADAC fellow (Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean), a Social Media Fellow and an instructor in the English Department at Queens College, CUNY.
In his non-academic life, Paul enjoys photography and cartooning.