Shawn Christian
Assistant Professor of English
Office: 318 Meneely
Office Hours: Fall 2008- Mondays 11:30am-12:30pm, Wednesdays 2pm-3:30pm, and by appointment.
Phone: 508-286-5484
Email: schristi@wheatonma.edu
Degrees
Ph.D., University of Michigan
M.A., Temple University
B.A., Florida State University
Teaching Interests
20th century American literature, its criticism, and its histories:
English 401 Senior Seminar, "Collaborations in 20th Century African American Literature and Culture" (fall 2006); "Harlem Renaissance as a Usable Past" (fall 2007).
English 349 Harlem Renaissance and Modernity
English 347 Contemporary African American Fiction.
English 290 Approaches to Literature and Culture.
English 256 Cultural Diversity in US Fiction since 1945.
English 209 African American Literature and Culture.
English 101 College Writing, "Writing about Black Popular Culture" (fall 2003, spring 2004); "Writing about College" (fall 2004); "Writing about HOUSE Music" (fall 2005, spring 2007); "Writing about Rivalry"(fall 2007).
First Year Seminar "'Reading' a Renaissance."
Student Projects
Honors Theses:
Adara Meyers (English), "Emily Eden, Mary Carpenter, and the Gendered Mechanisms of Empire" (spring 2008); reader.
Ashley Smith (Anthropology), "'How Indian Are You Anyway?': The Abenaki of the Northeast and the 'Indian Problem" for the 21st Century" (spring 2008); reader.
Alexandre Asancheyev (English), "Social death and civil rights: Theorizing three black subjects" (fall 2004); director.
Independent Studies:
Christopher Hank, "'History' in 20th Century American Fiction"(spring 2007); Timothy Johnson, "Critical Pedagogy" (spring 2007); Ashley Smith, "A Canon of Native American Fiction" (spring 2007); Melissa Lozano, "Miami"s Latinidad" (fall 2006); Ryann Galloway, "Black Women Directing Arts Institutions" (spring 2005); Sean Kelly, "American Men Writing Memoir"(spring 2004).
Publications
Review, Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean: Cola Debrot's "My Black Sister" and Boeli van Leeuwen's A Stranger on Earth, translated by Olga E. Roger and Joesph O. Aimone, Wadabagei: A Journal of the Caribbean and Its Diasporas (v11.2)
Review, They Tell Me of a Home, College Language Association Journal (March 2008).
Work In Progress
"Representing the Education of a Race: A Voice From the South,
Up From Slavery, and The Souls of Black Folks" (article under review)
"Bearing the Weight of Inheritance in Topdog/Underdog and A Raisin in the Sun" (article under review)
"Making Use of the Harlem Renaissance's Collaborative Impulse in Brother to Brother" (article under review)
Pedagogy for Black Readers: Situating the Harlem Renaissance's Other Literary Audience (book manuscript in progress)
"Reconsidering the African American Migration Narrative: Race and Sexuality in The Big Sea and Zami: A New Spelling of My Name" (article in progress)
"Embodied Memorials: James Baldwin, Richard Bruce Nugent, and Bayard Rustin" (article in progress)
"Collaborative Cultural Criticism: Callaloo"s Literary and Arts Interviews (article in progress)
Performances
Co-director, Wheaton College production of Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf (2004).