Educational Background

B.A. SUNY - Stony Brook
M.A. Purdue University
Ph.D. Purdue University

Professional Experience

Dr. Tenga teaches classes in literature, popular culture, and history. She has also taught English as a second language in Germany and worked as a professional investment writer in the United States and in Europe.

Selected Publications

"The Hybrid Identities of The Vampire Diaries." The CW Comes of Age: Essays on Programming, Branding and Evolution, edited by Ashley Lynn Carlson and Lisa K. Perdigao, McFarland, 2022, pp. 195-215. (With co-author Lisa K. Perdigao)

"Dead Men Telling Tales: From Night of the Living Dead to Zone One." Beyond the Living Dead: Essays on the Romero Legacy, edited by Bruce Peabody and Gloria Pastorino, McFarland, 2021, pp. 80-97.

“Spies Like Us: Ideology and Futility in the FX Television Series The Americans.” Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 42, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-24. (With co-author Jonathan F. Bassett)

The Written Dead: Essays on the Literary Zombie.  Edited by Kyle William Bishop and Angela Tenga. McFarland, 2017.

Plant Horror: Approaches to the Monstrous Vegetal in Fiction and Film. Edited by Dawn Keetley and Angela Tenga. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

"Seeds of Horror: Dominance and Sacrifice in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Wicker Man, and Children of the Corn." Plant Horror: Approaches to the Monstrous Vegetal in Fiction and Film, edited by Dawn Keetley and Angela Tenga, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, pp. 55-72.

"'You kill or you die, or you die and you kill': Meaning and Violence in AMC's The Walking Dead ." Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 49, no. 6, 2016, pp. 1280-1300. (With co-author Jonathan F. Bassett)

"The South Will Rise Again: Contagion, War, and Reconstruction in The Walking Dead , Seasons One through Five." The Last Midnight: Essays on Apocalyptic Narratives in Millennial Media, edited by Leisa A. Clark, Amanda Firestone, and Mary F. Pharr, McFarland, 2016, pp. 37-47. Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy 53. 

“Wandering Wesen : Immigration as Adaptation in Grimm .” Supernatural Studies vol. 2, no. 1, 2015, pp. 34-46.

"The Spectacle of the Body in Florida Gothic Stories ." Women of Florida Fiction: Essays on 12 Sunshine State Writers, edited by Tammy Powley and April Van Camp, McFarland, 2014, pp. 171-186.

“Gabriel Knight: A Twentieth-Century Chivalric Romance Hero. ”Digital Gaming Re-imagines the Middle Ages . Ed. Daniel T. Kline, Routledge, 2014, pp. 67-78. Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture.

"Vampire Gentlemen and Zombie Beasts: A Rendering of True Monstrosity." Gothic Studies vol. 15, no. 1, 2013, pp. 76-87. (With co-author Elizabeth Zimmerman)

Florida Studies: Proceedings of the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Florida College English Association . Ed. Paul D. Reich and Angela Tenga. Cambridge Scholars, 2012.

"Reformed Vampires from Forks to Florida." Florida Studies: Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Florida College English Association. Cambridge Scholars, 2011, pp. 189-202.

"Read Only as Directed: Psychology, Intertextuality, and Hyperreality in the Series." Theorizing Twilight: Critical Essays on What's at Stake in a Post-Vampire World, edited by Maggie Park and Natalie Wilson, McFarland, 2011, pp. 102-116.

"Dexter Morgan and Christian Troy: Wielding Knives in Miami." Florida Studies: Proceedings of the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Florida College English Association.Cambridge Scholars, 2010, pp. 137-157.

"Supporting Faculty Research through Asynchronous Online Collaboration at Florida Institute of Technology's Center for Communication Excellence." 2008 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference Proceedings. IEEE International, 2008, pp. 1-8. (with co-authors Z. Fazal, R. Hatcher-Gallop, and J. Strother)


Conference Papers:

“Tapioca Pudding, Bingo, and Homicide: A Vision of Two Aging Serial Killers in The Roberts.” Presented at the Northeast Popular Culture Association Virtual Conference, October 2022.

"Gazing into the Abyss: Heroes and Monsters in Grimm." Presented at the Ninth Biennial Slayage Conference, July 2022.

"A Community of Deviants: Devil's Night in American Horror Story: Hotel." Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2022.

“The Death of Rick Grimes and the End of The Walking Dead.” Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 2021.

“Mapping Relations between the Human and the Nonhuman in AMC’s The Walking Dead.” Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2019.

“Dead Men Telling Tales: From Night of the Living Dead to Zone One.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association in the South, New Orleans, LA, October 2018.

“Scientists and Monsters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.” Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2018.

“’You know the real reason I’m here!’ The Captivity of Negan in The Walking Dead.” Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2017.

"His Kingdom for a Horse: The Walking Dead in Print and on Screen." Presented at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Jacksonville, FL, November 2016.

"'The Southern Zombie Gothic in The Reapers Are the Angels ." Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2016.

"Serial Killers and Infected Identities: From Dexter to Lecter and Spector." Presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association in the South, Wilmington, NC, October 2015.

"The Green Menace: The Horror of Vegetal Dominance." Presented at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, New Orleans, LA, April 2015.

"'The South Will Rise Again: History, Time, and Identity in The Walking Dead ." Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2015.

"'Giving Voice to the Unmentionable': Forbidden Images in Hannibal ." Presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association in the South, New Orleans, LA, October 2014.

"An Eye for a Hand and a Hand for an Eye: Mythic Echoes in The Walking Dead ." Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2014.

"Twisted Oaks from Wicked Acorns: The Revelation of Monstrous Childhoods." Presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association in the South, Savannah, GA, October 2013.

"Lycanthropy and Absence in Arthur and Gorlagon ." Presented at Western Michigan University's 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2013.

"No More Monsters? Adaptation in the Undead Romance." Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2013.

“A Medieval Hero of Our Time: Gabriel Knight.” Presented at the New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, FL, March 2012.

"Resuscitated, Revivified, and Reanimated Narratives in Film and Television: In the Land of Haunted Houses." Presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Orlando, FL, March 2012.

"'A world with the darkest powers': Politics, Rebirth, and Monstrous Economics in The Nightwalker ." Presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association in the South, New Orleans, LA, October 2011.

“All Spark and No Bite: Reformed Vampires from Forks to Florida.” Presented at the annual conference of the Florida College English Association, Winter Park, FL, October 2010.

"Blood or Brains? Vampires and Zombies in Fiction." Presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture/American Culture Association in the South, Savannah, GA, October 2010.

"Vampires, Plastic Surgeons, and Privilege: Blood and Beauty in Dracula, Nip/Tuck, and Twilight ." Presented at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, St. Louis, MO, March 2010.

"A Princess Reclaimed: Recycled Fairy Tales in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series." Presented at Fairy Tale Economies: An Interdisciplinary, International Conference, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, October 2009.

"'A Weighty Question': Assessing Arthur and Gorlagon as an Arthurian Parodic Romance." Presented at the 23rd Medieval-Renaissance Conference at The University of Virginia's College at Wise, September 2009.

"Inscribed Narratives of a Circumscribed Life: How Life Imitates Fiction in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series." Presented at Summer School in Forks: A Twilight Symposium, Forks, WA, June 2009.

"Video Games and the New Producer-Consumer of Interactive Media." Presented at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Louisville, KY, November 2008.

"Creative Deviance: Emergent Game-Play and Late Middle English Romance," Presented at the New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, FL, March 2008.

Recognition & Awards

2021 winner of Studies in Popular Culture Whatley Award for “Spies Like Us: Ideology and Futility in the FX Television Series The Americans.”

2016 recipient of Florida College English Association’s Distinguished Colleague Award.

2004 recipient of research grant for Faculty Summer Institute of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Florida Institute of Technology.

Research

• Monstrosity in fiction and popular culture
• Crime and  serial murder in fiction and popular culture
• Narratives of the undead
• Medieval literature

Research & Project Interests