Julian Long brings a dynamic of disarming irreverence and rigorous scholarship to every class—whether he's at the front, or at the table.

As an African-Americanist scholar, his research examines and lends imagination to the topic of Black male identity and masculinity in contemporary Black-authored fiction through the lenses of pride, power, and shame. As a poet/essayist and novelist, Long's own creative work intentionally centers Black people—interrogating Black male identity specifically—to contribute to the rich, ongoing conversation in academia and media about Blackness and Black identity across genres, from academic texts to commercial literature, scholarly analysis and cinematic expression.

What sets Julian’s work apart is a poetic sensibility and narrative approach that combines intellectual analysis with accessible insight and personal perspective. This yields work that makes space for the kind of honest self-examination that advances both academic discourse and personal understanding.