Skip to main content
    Kent State University logo
    • Apply
    • Visit
    • Give Now
    • FlashLine Login
    • Calendars
    • Phone Directory
    • Maps & Directions
    • Search
    Healthy Communities Research Institute
    Menu Search
    • About
    • People
      Close
      • People Overview
      • Leadership/Administration
      • Faculty and Staff by College/Department
      • Faculty and Staff by Research Area
      • Fellow Program
      • Steering Committee
      • Student Members
      • Affiliate Members
    • Join HCRI
    • Funded Projects
    • Initiatives
    • Events
    • Featured Research
    • News
      Close
      • News Overview
      • Newsletters
    • FlashLine Login
    • Calendars
    • Phone Directory
    • Maps & Directions
    • Search
    • Apply
    • Visit
    • Give Now
    Live Chat
    Mark Bracher

    Mark Bracher

    Department of English
    Professor and Director, Neurocognitive Research Program for the Advancement of the Humanities (NRPAH)
    Contact Information
    Email:
    mbracher@kent.edu
    Phone:
    330-672-2665

    Biography

    Mark Bracher's teaching and research center on the question of how literary study in particular and humanities education in general can help students become more fulfilled individuals and more productive and socially responsible members of society.  More specifically, by employing the methods and findings of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience, Bracher works to formulate educational and other practices for reducing social injustice, including not only racism, colonialism, sexism, and homophobia but also the growing disparities in wealth and well being within both American society and the world at large. His research investigates, and his teaching attempts to implement, the development of capabilities of perception, judgment, and feeling that are necessary for recognizing these forms of social injustice, understanding their root causes, formulating effective interventions to counter them, and being motivated to ameliorate them. In addition to his teaching and research, he also serves as director of KSU's Neurocognitive Research Program for the Advancement of the Humanities (NRPAH) and as a member of the advisory team for Strategy of Mind, a global executive learning firm.

    Books
    • Literature and Social Justice: Protest Novels, Cognitive Politics, and Schema Criticism. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013.
    • Educating for Cosmopolitanism: Lessons from Cognitive Science and Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013
    • Social Symptoms of Identity Needs: Why We Have Failed to Solve Our Social Problems, and What to Do About It.  London: Karnac, 2009.
    • Radical Pedagogy: Identity, Generativity, and Social Transformation.  New York: Palgrave, 2006.
    • The Writing Cure: Psychoanalysis, Composition, and the  Aims of Education.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999.
    • Lacan, Discourse, and Social Change: A Psychoanalytic Cultural Criticism. Ithaca:  Cornell University Press, 1993.
    Selected Articles and Chapters
    • "From Antisocial to Prosocial Manhood: Shakespeare's Rescripting of Masculinity in As You Like It." In Configuring Masculinity in Theory and Literary Practice. Ed. Stefan Horlacher. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2015.
    • "How to Teach for Social Justice: Lessons from Uncle Tom's Cabin and Cognitive Science." College English 71, 4 (March 2009): 363-388.
    • "Schema Criticism: Literature, Cognitive Science, and Social Justice." College Literature 39 (Fall 2012): 84-117.
    Research Areas
    • How Literary Study Can Promote Social Justice
    • How the Humanities Can Develop Key Neurocognitive Capabilities

    Education

    Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, 1981

    Awards/Achievements

    • KSU Scholar of the Month - February 2015
    • KSU Outstanding Research and Scholarship Award

    Documents

    PDF icon BracherCV2015.pdf
    Healthy Communities Research Institute

    Street Address

    122 Cartwright Hall
    Kent, OH 44242


    Mailing Address

    800 E. Summit St.
    Kent, OH 44242

    Contact Us

    330-672-3321 hcri@kent.edu
    Contact Us
    • 330-672-3000
    • info@kent.edu

    HCRI Facebook
    HCRI Twitter
    HCRI Instagram
    • facebook
    • instagram
    • youtube
    • linkedin
    • TikTok
    • X
    • snapchat
    • ...
    Information
    • Accessibility
    • Annual Security Reports
    • For Our Alumni
    • For the Media
    • Health Services
    • Jobs & Employment
    • Privacy Statement
    • HEERF CARES/CRRSAA/ARP Act Reporting and Disclosure
    • Website Feedback
    Kent State University logo
    © 2025 Kent State University All rights reserved.