African American Literary Theory A Reader

Winston Napier is E. Franklin Frazier Chair of African American Literature and Critical Theory at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts Sandra Adell is Associate Professor in the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison Michael Awkward is Associate Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania Houston A. Baker, Jr., is the Susan Fox Beischer and George D. Beischer Arts and Sciences Professor of English at Duke University Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) is Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies at the State University of New York, Stony Brook Hazel V. Carby is Professor of English and Director of the Department of African American Studies at Yale University Barbara Christian is professor of English and African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963), sociologist, historian, novelist, poet, and race man, was the most formidable intellectual force in the early stages of twentieth-century African American history. His political and cultural commitment to black society resulted in the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and he served as editor of its Publication, Crisis. The first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University Ann DuCille is Professor of African American and American Literature at the University of California, San Diego Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) is best known for his novel Invisible Man. But he was also an important literary critic whose aesthetic adherence to the multicultural promise of democratic ideals provides some of our earliest articulation of politico-postmodern assumptions in African American culture Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of Humanities and Director of the Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University Addison Gayle, Jr. (1932-1991), was Distinguished Professor of English at Baruch College Carolyn F. Gerald is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she also earned a master's degree Evelynn Hammonds is Assistant Professor of the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Phillip Brian Harper is Professor of American Studies and English at New York University Mae Gwendolyn Henderson is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Stephen E. Henderson (1924-1996) was Professor of African American Studies at Howard University and Director of its Institute for the Humanities Karla F. C. Holloway is William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of English and Dean of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Duke University Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was one of the primary figures of the Harlem Renaissance. A prolific writer regarded mostly for his poetry, he adhered to an aesthetics that valued art as a means by which to celebrate the unique qualities of African American popular culture Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) studied African American culture at Howard University These academic interests figure strongly into her creative writings, which reveal passionate attention to folk society and dialect Joyce A. Joyce is Chairperson of the Department of African American Studies and Professor of English at Temple University Alain Locke (1886-1954) was a professor of philosophy at Howard University Wahneema Lubiano is Associate Professor in the Department of Literature and the African American Studies Program at Duke University Deborah E. McDowell is Associate Professor of English at the University of Virginia Harryette Mullen is Associate Professor of English at the Center for African American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles Larry Neal (1937-1981) was a poet, playwright, and essayist whose explication of cultural nationalism during the sixties established him as a leading spokesperson for the Black Arts Movement Charles I. Nero is Associate Professor of African American Studies at Bates College Robert F. Reid-Pharr is Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Comparative American Cultures Program at Johns Hopkins University Marlon B. Ross is Associate Professor of English at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor George S. Schuyler (1895-1977) was a unique intellectual force in African American culture. Journalist, social critic, and novelist Barbara Smith is one of the founding members of the Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press Valerie Smith is Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles Hortense J. Spillers is Professor of English at Cornell University Paul C. Taylor is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington, where he specializes in American Pragmatism, aesthetics, and race theory Sherley Anne Williams (1944-1999) was an accomplished critic, novelist, and poet Richard Wright (1908-1960) is best known for his novel Native Son, which in the aesthetic spirit of Marxian and Freudian naturalism drew America's attention to the influence of the environment on the production of the antisocial psycheNapier, Winston is the author of 'African American Literary Theory A Reader', published 2000 under ISBN 9780814758090 and ISBN 0814758096.