Join us for a virtual conversation with Margo Natalie Crawford, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of English at University of Pennsylvania and Professor-at-Large at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University.
Part of the Area Studies to Global Studies Seminar Series, her lecture examines 20th- and 21st-century African American literature, visual culture, and global Black studies, highlighting how literature and art illuminate Black radical imaginations.
The seminar will be co-moderated by doctoral students in Global Studies: Kate Qazi, Alya Rashid Burhaima, and Ahmed Abdelrahman Almaazmi.
Using Édouard Glissant’s theory of the “shock of elsewhere,” this lecture will examine the diasporic impulse that continues to blur the boundaries between African and African American literature. Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah, the letters between Bessie Head and Langston Hughes, Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy and The Dilemma of a Ghost, and the Black Arts Movement poetry of Keorapetse Kgositsile will be examined through a focus on the art of the “shock of elsewhere.” The final movement in this lecture will be a turn to book covers and other visual art that shed light on this black diasporic shock of elsewhere.
Margo Natalie Crawford is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and chairs the department. She also served as the Director of the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania from 2019 to 2022. She has also held positions at Cornell University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Indiana University-Bloomington, and Vassar College. She is currently a professor-at-large at The Africa Institute, GSU. Read more.
Ahmed is a Ph.D. student in Global Studies at Global Studies University, specializing in Cultural, Visual, and Literary Studies. His research focuses on African-Arab encounters through clothing, performance, and archival materials. He leads the Sharjah Fashion Lab, developing decolonial programs that connect creative practice, pedagogy, and research. Formerly Creative Director of Thamanyah, his work has been featured internationally and recognized by Forbes US 30 Under 30. Read more.
Alya is a Ph.D. student in Global Studies at Global Studies University, specializing in Cultural, Visual, and Literary Studies. Her research focuses on Emirati private museums, sustainability, and cultural policy. She has over fifteen years of experience at the Sharjah Museums Authority, where she has led exhibitions, educational programs, and community engagement initiatives. Read more.
Kate is a Ph.D. student in Global Studies at Global Studies University, specializing in Cultural, Visual, and Literary Studies. She researches language and pedagogy in non-Western contexts, drawing on experience in research, educational publishing, and language instruction to explore practical solutions that enhance language learning and teaching across diverse settings. Read more.
Join us for a virtual conversation with Margo Natalie Crawford, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of English at University of Pennsylvania and Professor-at-Large at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University.
Join us for a virtual conversation with Margo Natalie Crawford, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of English at University of Pennsylvania and Professor-at-Large at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University.
Part of the Area Studies to Global Studies Seminar Series, her lecture examines 20th- and 21st-century African American literature, visual culture, and global Black studies, highlighting how literature and art illuminate Black radical imaginations.
The seminar will be co-moderated by doctoral students in Global Studies: Kate Qazi, Alya Rashid Burhaima, and Ahmed Abdelrahman Almaazmi.
Using Édouard Glissant’s theory of the “shock of elsewhere,” this lecture will examine the diasporic impulse that continues to blur the boundaries between African and African American literature. Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah, the letters between Bessie Head and Langston Hughes, Ama Ata Aidoo’s Our Sister Killjoy and The Dilemma of a Ghost, and the Black Arts Movement poetry of Keorapetse Kgositsile will be examined through a focus on the art of the “shock of elsewhere.” The final movement in this lecture will be a turn to book covers and other visual art that shed light on this black diasporic shock of elsewhere.
Margo Natalie Crawford is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and chairs the department. She also served as the Director of the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania from 2019 to 2022. She has also held positions at Cornell University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Indiana University-Bloomington, and Vassar College. She is currently a professor-at-large at The Africa Institute, GSU. Read more.
Ahmed is a Ph.D. student in Global Studies at Global Studies University, specializing in Cultural, Visual, and Literary Studies. His research focuses on African-Arab encounters through clothing, performance, and archival materials. He leads the Sharjah Fashion Lab, developing decolonial programs that connect creative practice, pedagogy, and research. Formerly Creative Director of Thamanyah, his work has been featured internationally and recognized by Forbes US 30 Under 30. Read more.
Alya is a Ph.D. student in Global Studies at Global Studies University, specializing in Cultural, Visual, and Literary Studies. Her research focuses on Emirati private museums, sustainability, and cultural policy. She has over fifteen years of experience at the Sharjah Museums Authority, where she has led exhibitions, educational programs, and community engagement initiatives. Read more.
Kate is a Ph.D. student in Global Studies at Global Studies University, specializing in Cultural, Visual, and Literary Studies. She researches language and pedagogy in non-Western contexts, drawing on experience in research, educational publishing, and language instruction to explore practical solutions that enhance language learning and teaching across diverse settings. Read more.
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