Transnational Africa/Black Diaspora Studies

The unusual structure of a single Department of Literature is particularly conducive to the transnational and multilingual study of the African diaspora, and in recent years the department has developed growing strength in this area. Faculty explore how race, ethnicity, and class function as component aspects of the ways in which we investigate African and black diasporan literatures. Graduate seminars have focused on such diverse topics as African oral narratives, relations between early modern Europe and northern Africa, Francophone and Hispanic literatures of the Caribbean, and various aspects of African American literature and culture.