The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU) is pleased to host the second Faculty Seminar featuring Margo Natalie Crawford, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor-at-Large, The Africa Institute, GSU.
Professor Crawford will present a lecture titled “The Diasporic Shock of Elsewhere in African and African American Literature.”
Date & Time: Thursday, February 26, 2026, 12:00 – 2:00 PM GST
Location: Auditorium, GSU (location map)
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.
Philathia Bolton is a literary scholar whose research and teaching focus on African and African Diaspora literature and cultural studies. She serves as Interim Chair of the Department of Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Literature and Cultural Studies at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University. Read more.
The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU) is pleased to host the second Faculty Seminar featuring Margo Natalie Crawford, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor-at-Large, The Africa Institute, GSU.
The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU) is pleased to host the second Faculty Seminar featuring Margo Natalie Crawford, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor-at-Large, The Africa Institute, GSU.
Professor Crawford will present a lecture titled “The Diasporic Shock of Elsewhere in African and African American Literature.”
Date & Time: Thursday, February 26, 2026, 12:00 – 2:00 PM GST
Location: Auditorium, GSU (location map)
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.
Philathia Bolton is a literary scholar whose research and teaching focus on African and African Diaspora literature and cultural studies. She serves as Interim Chair of the Department of Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Literature and Cultural Studies at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University. Read more.
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