About My Humble Self
Assistant Professor and Dr. Babacar M’Baye (bmbaye@kent.edu) received his Ph.D. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University, his M.A. in American Studies from Pennsylvania State University inHarrisburg, PA, and his B.A. in English from the Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Sénégal. He is currently teaching African American and Pan-African literature at Kent State University; and writing a manuscript on the African influence in eighteenth and nineteenth century African American, African British, and African Caribbean writings (he has published essays on the relations between Phyllis Wheatley, Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and Africa). His teaching and research areas are late eighteenth-and-early-twentieth Pan-African literature; twentieth-century African American literature, twentieth century African literature, and Black Atlantic Studies.
My Research Interests
Primary
-Eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century African American literature and history.
-Black Travel Writings.
-Folklore in African and African American literature.
-African retentions in the United States and the Caribbean.
-Slavery in African, African American literature, and African Caribbean literature.
-The Harlem Renaissance, the Negritude Movement, and the Black Arts Movement.
-African literature in English, French, and in translation (French / English and English / French).
--American Cultural Studies.
-Theories and methods of Black Atlantic/Diaspora and Literary Studies.
-Theories and methods of Pan-African Studies.
-Theories of Race, class, gender, sexuality, modernism, post-modernism, post-colonialism; globalization, and nationalisms.
Secondary
-African, African American, and Caribbean Cinema and music.
-African, African American, and Caribbean history.
-American Material culture and Folklore.
-Theories and methods of Interdisciplinary Studies.
-Theories and methods of American Culture Studies.
-Cultural Pluralism and Diversity in America.
Courses I often teach in the Department of English:
Methods in the Study of Literature
ENG-66706; ENG-76706
(GRADUATE)
This course uses key methods of American Studies, Ethnic Studies, African American and Indigenous Studies in order to interpret pivotal texts of American and world literature. Drawing from the essential paradigms of Clifford Geertz, Thomas Kuhn, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Barbara Christian, Paul Gilroy, and the critical theories of modernism, structuralism, postmodernism, postcolonialism, Marxism, feminism and other equally-relevant ones, this graduate course examines significant methods of studying American and world literature.
Introduction to Ethnic Literature
ENG-21001
(UNDERGRADUATE)
This course will examine how various social groups such as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, Indian Americans, and Arab Americans have constructed and defined their social, economic, and cultural space and identity in the American history, society, and culture. We will explore such construction and definition of identity, space, and culture by reading, discussing, and writing about pivotal literary and historical works African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American, Jewish American, Indian American, and Arab Americans authors and intellectuals. These works will include key selections of prose, non-fiction essays, poems, and personal narratives that highlight major development in the history of these communities.
Literature in English II
ENG-25002
(UNDERGRADUATE)
This course examines the historical and cultural significance of various literary texts that have been written in England, the United States, and Africa since 1800. While emphasizing the literature from these three geographic contexts, the course pays a close attention to the richness of the English and American literary traditions and the vital contributions that people of African descent have made in them. The readings of this course include pivotal works written since 1800, and encompass various genres such as slave narratives, fiction, drama, and poetry. While the overall purpose of the course is to learn how to read, interpret and write about literary works within historical contexts, its primary goal is to help students understand the significance of race, class, gender, and worldviews in the development of identity in English and American societies that have been heavily influenced by people of color from around the world.
Postcolonial Black Literature
ENG-39995
(UNDERGRADUATE)
This course examines the representation of racism, colonialism, sexism, classism, and homophobia in key works of twentieth-century African American, Caribbean, and African writers. A major theme will be the centrality of Africa in the construction of transnational, interconnected, multiracial, and multicultural identities in the modern world. The works we will read and analyze include: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Aimé Césaire’s Discourse on Colonialism, Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s Ambiguous Adventure, Buchi Emechetta’s The Joys of Motherhood, Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North, and Richard Wright’s Native Son. This course is a good introduction to Postcolonial Black literature, Black colonial and postcolonial history and cultures, various concepts of Black Studies, and Black literary theories.
Courses I often teach in the Department of Pan-African Studies:
African Literature
PAS-42095
(UNDERGRADUATE)
This course introduces or deepens student’s knowledge of African American, African, and African-Caribbean literature. Specifically, the course examines the relationships between key twentieth-century African American and Caribbean writers and intellectuals such as Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, and Africa. Themes will include race, class, gender, sexuality, and, especially, the centrality of Africa in the construction of transnational, interconnected, multiracial, and multicultural Black identities in the modern world, which are identified as “Black Atlantic cultures.”
Another key theme is the resistance of Black writers and intellectuals against racism and colonialism from the early twentieth century to the present. The genres that will be read and discussed in this course include novels, autobiographies, travel writings, and poems. The media will include films, documentaries, and music. This course will introduce students to Black Atlantic Studies, Black transnational literature, history and cultures, theories of contemporary Black Studies, and literary theory.
Pan-Africanism and the Model African Union (AU) Summit
PAS-37020
(UNDERGRADUATE)
This course will provide perspective, understanding of, and context for the historical, cultural and political perspectives in Pan-Africanist thought and practice. Concepts such as “Pan-Africanism,” “African Diaspora,” and “Nationalism” will be examined, along with some of the major thinkers and practitioners of these ideologies. Students will be selected based upon their productivity and availability to participate in the annual Model Organization of African Union Summit in Washington, DC. The class will also examine Pan-Africanism and Globalism in the 21st century.
Aims: By the end of the course students will be expected to:
Have a diplomatic experience through a visit and conversation with African Ambassadors and Cultural Counselors in Washington D.C.
Work with students from other Universities for five days on major issues confronting Africa.
Have a good understanding of the origins and development of Pan-Africanism.
Have improved critical reading, writing, oral and research skills.
Be aware of the challenges facing governmental and non-governmental organizations that help Africa.
Understand America’s relationships with Africa.
Web information about the Model African Union is available at http://www.modelafricanunion.org/