Faculty Profile for Dr. Christian Marlene Hines

profile photo for Dr. Christian Marlene Hines
Dr. Christian Marlene Hines
Assistant Professor — Curriculum And Instruction
ED 3044
phone: (512) 245-3701
Scholarly/Creative Work
Awards
Grants
Service

Biography Section

Biography and Education

 Dr. Christian Hines is an Assistant Professor of Reading and Literacy at Texas State University. She is a former high school English teacher and Blerd (black nerd) and teacher educator whose work centers on the use of diverse young adult literature and multimodal texts in the secondary English Language Arts classroom. She received her PhD from The Ohio State University.

She leans into comics and graphic novels, specifically diverse teen superhero narratives as a way for students and practitioners to understand the intersectional lived experiences of youth and the impact that youth have on society and enacting resistance. She also centers her work around Black girls in comics, literature, pop culture, and in educational spaces.

She strives to contextualize the broader terms of her research on the representations of Black girls in middle grade and young adult literature and the ways in which that representation can aid in the identity formations and affirmations of Black girls in the ELA classroom as well creating avenues for them to amplify and create their own multimodal stories.

Research Interests

 Comics and graphic novels studies, Diverse representations in Young Adult Literature, English Teacher Education, Multicultural/social justice education, Visual and Digital literacy education

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Hines, C. M., Rodríguez-Astacio, R., & Miller, H. “Cody.” (2024). Capes, Culture, and Racial Representation in Children’s Superhero Narratives: A Critical Race Content Analysis of DC Graphic Novels for Kids. Journal of Children’s Literature, 50(1), 10–21.
  • Hines, C. M., & Igeleke Penn, J. (2023). Seeing beyond the Surface: Using Critical Lenses to Combat Anti-Blackness in the English Classroom. English Journal, 113(1), 17–24.
  • Rodríguez-Astacio, R., Hines, C. M., & Miller, H. C. (2024). Criticality and the Cowl: Teaching Black Superhero Narratives with DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults, 51(2), 11–19.
  • Hines, C. M. (n.d.). “I Knew One Day I’d Need My Own Wings to Fly”: Advancing Black Male Literacies Through Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies. In In Pursuit of Academics: Engaging Black Males in P-12 Schools (pp. 1–22). Kendall Hunt Publishing.
  • Hines, C. M. (2024). “I Am My Greatest Invention”: Examining Black Girl Literacies via the Visual Narratives of Black Girls in Marvel Comics. In Transmedia Applications in Literacy Fields (pp. 1–22). IGI Global.

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: NCTE Edwin M. Hopkins Award, National Council of Teachers of English. 2024
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Frederick Luis Aldama Emerging BIPOC Comics Studies Leadership Award, Comics Studies Society. May 2024 - September 2024

Selected Grants

  • Hines, Christian Marlene. Communities Literacies Collaboratory Literacies Research Grant Recipient, Community Literacies Collaboratory, University of Arkansas, Institutional (Higher Ed), $1900. (Funded: 2023). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Secretary
Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table Outstanding Comics for Children Award
2025-Present
Editor
The ALAN Review
2024-Present
Attendee / Participant
Comics Studies Society Award Committee
2024-Present
Member
The Dunbar Heritage Association
2024-Present
Organizer
Banned Books Week Awareness Intitiative
2024-2024