Vita
Iyunolu F. Osagie
Department of English
430 Burrowes Building
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802-6200
Office: (814) 865-0334
Fax: (814) 863-7285
Cell: (814) 574-0383
E-mail: [email protected]
Education
1992 - Ph.D. in English, Cornell University
Dissertation: Technologies of Myth and the Inscription of Subjectivity: Reading Bessie
Head’s A Question of Power and Toni Morrison’s Beloved
1990 - MA in English, Cornell University
1985 - MA in English Literature, University of Ife, Nigeria
1983 - BA in English and Literary Studies, University of Ife, Nigeria
Professional Experience
2014-present, Associate Professor of English and African Studies, Penn State
1999-present, Associate Professor of English, Penn State
1992 - 1999, Assistant Professor of English, Penn State
(Leave of absence: 1997-1998)
1987-1990, Teaching Assistant, Freshman Writing Program, Cornell
1985 - 1987, Lecturer, Ogun State University (Nigeria)
1985-1986, Theatre Director, Ogun State University (Nigeria)
Publication
A. Books
African Modernity and the Philosophy of Culture: The Works of Femi Euba (Forthcoming,
Lexington Books, Black Diaporic Worlds Series, 2017)
Theater in Sierra Leone: Five Popular Plays (Edited) (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2009).
The Amistad Revolt: Memory, Slavery, and the Politics of Identity in the US and Sierra Leone (U
of Georgia P, 2000, 2003).
B. Journal Articles and Book Chapters
“Who Pulled the Trigger: Ritual Ending in Femi Euba’s A Riddle of the Palms, Crocodiles, and
The Chameleon.” Edited Collection. LSU Press (Forthcoming – book chapter).
Osagie, I. & Sylvia Owiny. “The Evolution of Naming in the Amistad Incident.” Journal of PanAfrican Studies 7.8 (2015): 1-19.
“Situating Agency in Blood Diamond and Ezra: Implications for Sierra Leone Theatre and
Politics.” Hollywood’s Africa After 1994. Edited by MaryEllen Higgins. (Ohio University Press,
2012): 313-337.
Buzinde, C. and I. Osagie. “Slavery Heritage Representations, Cultural Citizenship, and Judicial
Politics in America.” Historical Geography 39 (2011): 41-64.
Buzinde, C. & I. Osagie. “William Wells Brown: Fugitive Subjectivity, Travel Writing, and the
Gaze.” Cultural Studies 25.3 (2011): 405-425.
Osagie, I. & Buzinde, C. “Culture and Postcolonial Resistance: Antigua in Jamaica Kincaid’s A
Small Place.” Annals of Tourism Research 38.1(2011):210-230.
“Spirit of the Amistad: Figurations of Women in Echo of Lions.” Special Journal Edition on
Barbara Chase-Riboud. Callaloo 32.3 (Summer 2009): 832-844.
"The Significance of Toni French as a Female Artist in Sierra Leone Theater." A Critical
Introduction to Sierra Leonean Literature. Edited by Eustace Palmer and Abioseh Porter.
(Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008): 131-144.
“Routed Passages: Narrative Memory and Identity in Alex Haley’s Roots.” College Language
Association 47.4 (June 2004): 391-408.
“The Amistad Revolt Revisited in Sierra Leone,” Thresholds of Western Culture: Identity,
Postcoloniality, Transnationalism. Edited by John Burt Foster, Jr. & Wayne J. Froman (NY:
Continuum, 2002) 89-102.
“When Rain Clouds Gather: Bessie Head,” African Literature and Its Times. Edited by Joyce
Moss (Santa Monica, CA: Moss Publishing Group, 2000). 481-491.
"Historical Memory and a New National Consciousness: The Amistad Revolt Revisited in Sierra
Leone," Massachusetts Review (Spring 1997): 63-83.
“The Amistad Affair and the Nation of Sierra Leone: The Dramatic Return of Memory,”
Contemporary Literature in the African Diaspora. Edited by Olga Barrios & Bernard W. Bell (U
of Salamanca, Spain, 1997): 159 - 165.
"Is Morrison Also Among the Prophets? ‘Psychoanalytic’ Strategies in Beloved" African
American Review 28.3 (Fall 1994): 423 - 440.
C. Reviews
“Femi Euba,” Post-Colonial African Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook. Edited by
Pushpa N. Parekh & Siga Jagne (Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 1998): 164 - 170.
"Chap Am So: The Amistad Victory" by John C. Thorpe, Theatre Journal 50.1 (March 1998):
101-103.
The Slumbering Volcano: American Slave Ship Revolts and the Production of Rebellious
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Masculinity, Maggie Sale. (Durham: Duke U P, 1997). CLA Journal 42.1 (Sept 1998): 124-28.
Masters of the Drum, Robert Fox. (Greenwood P, 1995). Melus 23.4 (Winter 1998): 219-222.
D. Work in Performance
The Shield. Play. Stage Reading, State Theatre, State College. July 2012.
The Shield. Play. Full Production by Covenant University, Nigeria. April 2010.
The Shield. Play. Full Production by Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, Nigeria. April 2010.
The Shield. Staged Reading by Penn State Theatre Department (Pavilion Theatre). May 2008.
E. Work Under Submission
1. “Cultural Citizenship and Feminism in Nigeria: Molara Ogundipe’s Critique of Traditional
and Contemporary Practices.” (With co-author Sylvester Osagie/ Book chapter)
2. “Esu as Shape Shifting God/Word: Modernity in Femi Euba’s Camwood at Crossroads.”
(Journal article)
F. Work in Progress
1. The Amistad Legacy: Thomas Tucker in America (book project)
2. The Shield: Memories of Civil War in Sierra Leone (full-length play)
Selected Courses Taught at Penn State
Contemporary Slavery
Black Modernism: Double Consciousness and Diaspora Literature (400/500 level)
Introduction to African American Writers (100 Level)
American Literature 1865 - present (200 Level Intensive Writing)
The Early African American Novel (400 Level)
Black American Writers/ Modern (400 Level)
Black Women Writers and the Culture Critique (500 level)
African, African American, and Caribbean Women Writers (500 Level)
Third World Feminisms (500 Level)
Identities in Middle Passage /Diaspora Studies (400/500 Level)
African American Playwrights (100/500 Level)
Performance Studies (500 Level)
Teaching and Research Interests
African American Literature
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Diaspora/ Transnational Literatures and Theories
African and Postcolonial Literatures
Theater and Film
Third World Feminisms
Modernism
New Slavery
Honors Composition (The Art of Writing)
Selected Dissertation Committees
2012 “InstrumentalVoices:ExperimentalPoetryandtheJazzTradition.”Michael New
2010 “Womanist Restorative Drama.” Phyllisa Smith Derose
2007 “Placing Religion: Twentieth-Century American Women Writers and Spiritual
Geography.” Carissa Turner Smith.
2006 “In the Presence of the Ancestors: Culture, History, Memory in the African American
Novel.” Timothy Robinson.
2006 “As the Spirit Gives Utterance: The Language and Literacy Practices of Contemporary
Black Women Preachers.” Aesha Adams.
2006 “Liminal Identities of Mulattas in African, African American, and Caribbean Literature.”
Kadidiatou Gueye.
2004 “Beyond the Imperial Way of Life: Exploring New Forms of Cultural Citizenship in
Contemporary US Fiction.” Holly Flint.
1999 “Rediscovering their Shrines from the Wreckage: Oralising and the Creative Imagination
in Selected African Women’s Drama.” Katwiwa Mule.
1998 “Cartographies of Dislocation: Postcolonialism, Transnationalism, & Third World
Feminisms.” Jamil Khader.
Selected Conference Papers Presented
2016 August. ““African Feminist Initiative at Penn State: Molara Ogundipe as symbol of
Excellence.” Decolonising African Feminisms. U of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
2015 October. “Barbara Chase-Riboud: On Slavery and Memory.” United Nations conference on
Truth: Women, Creativity, and Memory of Slavery.” Fordham University.
2014 April. “The Evolution of Naming in the Amistad Incident.” New Directions in the Study of
the Amistad Rebellion and Atlantic Sierra Leone conference. University of Pittsburgh.
2013 April. “Slave, Advocate, Tourist.” College Language Association conference. Lexington,
Kentucky.
2013 March. “These Strains of Denial: Ellison, Bradley, Morrison.” New Jersey College English
Association Annual Spring Conference. Seton Hall University.
2012 March. “Spirit of the Amistad.” New Writing After Beloved Conference, University of
Nantes. Nantes, France.
2011 October. “Barnabas Root and Thomas Tucker: Amistad Africans in the Post Civil War
South.” ASALH, Richmond, VA.
2010 April. “Innovation in Research.” Faculty Workshop Series, Covenant University, Nigeria.
2007 July/Aug. “Blood Diamonds: Western Film, Black Theatre, and the Implications for Sierra
Leone.” Black Theatre Network Conference, Greensboro, NC.
2005 December. “Amistad: Response to Spielberg’s Version.” Seminar. Obafemi Awolowo
University, Nigeria.
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2005 April. “Modernism and Double-Consciousness: Gilroy on DuBoisian Scholarship,” CAAR
conference, Francois-Rabelais University, Tours, France.
2004 April. “The Historical Memory of the Amistad: Spielberg’s Movie and the Current African
Perspective,” ALA conference, U of Wisconsin-Madison.
2003 April. “Modernism, Double-Consciousness, and the Black Diaspora,” CLA conference,
Washington DC.
2002 February, “Historical Memory in Toni Morrison’s “Jazzy” Paradise,” 20th Century Lit.
Conference, Louisville, KY.
2000 September. “Race, Ethnicity and Power in Maritime America: The Amistad Considered.”
Mystic Seaport, CT.
1998 April. “Touching Base with Culture: August Wilson,” Cultural Connections Conference,
CLA, Florida A&M, Tallahassee, Florida.
1997 April. “Conceptualizing Blackness in Middle Passage Migrations,” CLA, Atlanta.
Service
a. Department Level
I have served and/or continue to serve the English Department as a member of the following
committees: Personnel Committee, Undergraduate Studies Committee, Graduate Studies
Committee, African American Emphasis Committee, Job Placement Committee, Awards
Committee, and many Search committees for English, Comparative Literature, and African
American Studies Departments.
b. College Level
Committees: Undergraduate Studies, Academic Integrity, Grades Adjudication, Implementation
Committee and Advisory Board of the Africana Research Center.
c. University Level
The University Senate, 2003-2007, 2014-2015; AD-14 Committee; CIC Fellow, 2005-2006.
Strategic Planning Committee.
d. Diversity Programs
President, Forum on Black Affairs, 2014-2015
Chair, Martin Luther King Banquet Committee, 2015-2016
African Feminist Initiative Center, Advisory Board, African Studies Program
Co-founder of the English Department Women of Color group (reaches out to minority graduate
students).
Founding member of American Women Writers Workshop (A faculty/graduate student group
invested in reading American women authors) 1998-2005.
Community Service- co-founder of INSPIRE (academic edge learning for black students K-12)
Professional Outreach
a. Invited Speaker (Selected Visits)
2015 Oct. “Barbara Chase-Riboud: On Slavery and Memory.” Truth: Women, Creativity, and
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Memory of Slavery conference. United Nations/ Fordham University.
2014 April. "The Evolution of Naming in the Amistad Incident" New Directions in the Study of
the Amistad Rebellion and Atlantic Sierra Leone Conference. Pittsburgh University.
2014 March. “Who Pulled the Trigger? Ritual Ending in Femi Euba's One Act Plays” Praise at
the Crossroads: The Theatre, Literature, and Theory of Femi Euba Conference. LSU.
2011 Feb. “LegacyoftheAmistad.”KeynoteSpeaker.CentralConnecticutStateUniversity.
2010 April. “Theater in Sierra Leone: The Civil War in Reflection.” Ahmadu Bello University,
Nigeria.
2008 February. “Representing the Amistad.” Albion College, MI.
2007 April. “The Amistad Movie and African Representation.” City U of New Jersey”
2007 September. Keynote Speaker. “200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic
Slave Trade.” Grand Rapids Community College, MI.
2003 March. “The Amistad Story” Amistad Student Conference hosted at Sacred Heart U, CT
1999 May. “Women and Politics in South Africa,” at Edinboro U, PA.
1998 October. “After the Amistad: A Meditation on Effects and Responses” African Division at
the Library of Congress
1998 April. “History, Memory, and Slavery: The Amistad Incident Revisited in Sierra Leone”
Northwestern U
1998 January “An American Forum ‘Cinema as History: Amistad’” American U (DC)
b. Public Media Service
1998 February - WPSX (Channel 3 TV) Interview on “Take Note with Patty Sattalia,”
Discussion of the Amistad. (15 minutes)
1998 January - WPSX Radio on “Libri.” Review of my forthcoming book on the Amistad. (25
minutes)
1997 December - WHYY (NPR) “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” Discussion of the Amistad. (20
minutes)
1997 December - BBC World Service International (WGBH Boston) “Interview with Tony
Kohn,” Discussion of the Amistad. (6 minutes)
1993 February WPSX Radio (Penn State) on “Libri” Book Review of In My Father’s House by
Anthony Appiah. (25 minutes)
c. Editorial Service
Guest Editor/Ad Hoc Reviewer for Comparative Literature Studies, Mosaic, Research in African
Literatures (journals)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (granting agency)
Professional Activity (Selected)
2011 Sept. Speaker. “Collaborative Research across Disciplines” at Penn State U
2009 March. Panel Chair at CLA Liberation and Black Writers Conference
2007 April. Panel Chair at CLA Spirituality and Literature Conference
2006 April. Panel Organizer for CLA conference “From Page to Stage”
2004 June Reviewer for “Oberlin College Nominee for Community Award,”
2004 Jan. “Africana Feminisms” panelist, PSU
2003 Dec. Comp. Lit. Dept. Series, “J. M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize Winner,” panelist
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2003 July-Aug. Fulbright-Hays Summer Fellowship / Curriculum development, Ghana
Membership in Professional & Learned Societies
African Literature Association
College Language Association
Modern Language Association
Collegium for African American Research
Black Theatre Network
African Studies Association
Awards
2011 Amistad Award Recipient. Central Connecticut State University.
2010 Resident Fellow, Covenant University, Nigeria.
2007 IAHS Faculty Award, Penn State- Theatre Production of play, “The Shield.”
2006 Grant, “Civil War in Sierra Leone” [African Research & Civil War Centers].
2005 Committee for Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Academic Leadership Program.
2003 Fulbright-Hays Summer Fellowship, Ghana.
1998 IAHS Faculty Award, Penn State [Research: Rhetorical Memories of the Slave Trade at
Africana Library, Northwestern U, summer 1998].
1994 Research and Graduate Studies Grant (Faculty Award), Penn State.
[Research: Collective National Memory on the Amistad in Sierra Leone].
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