Charles Heffernan-Brown
Education
M.A. History, University of Virginia, 2024
M.A. World History and Cultures with Distinction, King's College London, 2022
B.A. History with Honors, The University of Chicago, 2021
Biography
Charles (Charlie) Heffernan-Brown is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the History department. He is broadly interested in twentieth-century U.S. cultural history, with a specific interest in the cultures of U.S. imperialism and the cultural politics of social movements. His dissertation, "Sailors, Sex, and San Diego: The Making of a Gay Military World, 1898-Present," is an urban and political history of San Diego, California, told through the lens of the entanglements between the U.S. military and LGBTQ+ politics and culture. Bridging literature in military history, cultural history, and queer history, his dissertation argues that the U.S. military's immense presence in San Diego constructed particularly unique queer subcultures and politics unseen in other major U.S. cities, contributing a new understanding of where, how, why, and through what means queer people politically organized. He works with Lambda Archives of San Diego on a variety of public-facing history projects, including an LGBTQ+ history curriculum for K-12 educators in San Diego County. He is passionate about community archives, storytelling, and San Diego.
Charlie is a proud San Diegan, and holds an M.A. from King's College London and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Courses Taught
- WGS2100: Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies (Professor Lisa Speidel)
- AMST2001: Introduction to American Studies (Professors Jack Hamilton and Fiona Ngô)
- HIST2014: Fascism: A Global History (Professors Manuela Achilles and Kyrill Kunakhovich)
- AAS1010: Introduction to African-American and African Studies I (Professor Nemata Blyden)