Decker| 1
Michelle G. Decker
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Comparative Literature
The Pennsylvania State University
Education
2009–May 2014Ph.D. Candidate,Comparative Literature(English minor). Pennsylvania State University
2009M.A., Comparative Literature. Pennsylvania State University
2006B.A.,summa cum laude, Comparative Literature. Pennsylvania State University
Languages: Kiswahili, Arabic (Modern Standard and Egyptian dialect), Spanish (reading)
Dissertation
Genre, Geography, and the Making of “Africa”
Committee: Eric Hayot (chair), Gabeba Baderoon, Jonathan Eburne, Nergis Ertürk, Christopher Reed
Publications
“The ‘Autobiography’ of Tippu Tip: Genre, Geography, and the African Indian Ocean,” forthcoming inInterventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies.
“Aimé Césaire,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, forthcoming in 2014.
“Négritude,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, forthcoming in 2014.
“Poetic Proverbs, African Advocacy, and Melvin B. Tolson,”Conversation/Conversion: The Comparative Humanities Review 1.1 (Fall 2006): 6–12.
Conference presentations and invited talks
“The ‘Autobiography’ of Tippu Tip: Genre, Geography, and the African Indian Ocean,” Centre for Indian
Studies at The University of the Witwatersrand, July 22, 2013.
“How to Read Literature via a Nineteenth Century Kiswahili Poem,” American Comparative Literature
Assoc., 2013.
“African Interiors: The Autobiography of Tippu Tip,” American Comparative Literature Association, 2012.
“The African 1980s,” American Comparative Literature Association, ACL(x) session, 2012.
“Thinking beyond the Region,” Penn State Comparative Literature Luncheon, Panel Discussion, 2012.
“Functional Literature: ‘Al-Inkishafi’ and African Ruins,” African Literature Association, 2012.
“Bloomsbury’s South Africans,” Modernist Studies Association, 2009.
“Slavery, Memory, and the Middle Space,” American Comparative Literature Association,2008.
Teaching
Introduction to African Literatures: Self-designed survey course of oral, written, and visual literatures (translated into English) from all reaches of the continent and many of its languages (Arabic, English, French, German, Kiswahili, and Portuguese). Taught twice with modified syllabus, which included such works as Season of Migration to the North, Things Fall Apart, Waiting for the Barbarians, Bamako, and the Kiswahili poetry of Shaaban Robert.
Introduction to Kiswahili: First-level Kiswahili language and culture course, taught using traditional pedagogical approaches, as well as online and audio modules in the target language. Taught twice using McGrath and Martin’s Colloquial Swahili with supplemental materials from Hinnebusch and Mirza’s Swahili, A Foundation for Speaking, Reading, and Writing.
Introduction to World Literatures: (Online course) A survey course of “world literatures,” taught through the lens of texts’ places of origin, forms, themes, and processes of dissemination. Taught twice using the Longman Anthology of World Literature, with texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita, the poetry of Ghalib, and the letters of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Human Rights and World Literature: An entry-level course designed to introduce students to human rights via the declarations, legal texts, and manifestos that helped shape them, and the fictional texts that represented and questioned their violations. Taught once with a syllabus that included Murambi, The Book of Bones; Maus; Kiss of the Spider Woman; and I’jaam, An Iraqi Rhapsody. This course also included several upper-level students who took the class to satisfy International Studies requirements. Syllabus modifications for these students included supplemental theoretical readings and a research-paper requirement.
Literary Humor: A survey course dealing with the nature of comedy and humor in literature. Through discussion and writing, the course provided students with the opportunity to discuss both the widespread, or even universal, aspects of literary humor, and the diversity of literary humor across cultures and time periods. Taught once with a syllabus that included Bamboozled; Lysistrata; I Am a Cat; and the Sufi proverbs of Mulla Nasrudin.
Race, Gender, and Identity in World Literature: A lower-level course I designed to present questions of human constructions of “otherness” via an oceanic perspective. The foundational question of this course asked how the oceans allowed (and still present) a different kind of understanding of difference. Taught once using a syllabus that included Sea of Poppies, Frankenstein, the stories of Edogawa Rampo, the music of Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, and the poetry of Charles Baudelaire.
Grants, honors, and awards
2013Liberal Arts Superior Teaching and Research (STAR) Award
2013Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award (University-wide award)
2012Africana Research Center Humanities Dissertation Fellow (PSU)
2012Erasmus Award (Department teaching award)
2011Institute for the Arts and Humanities Summer Residency Fellowship (PSU)
2011Erasmus Award
2011Graduate Research Exhibition, 3rd place winner in the Arts & Humanities (PSU)
2010Critical Language Scholarship for Arabic, U.S. Department of State
2006Samuel P. Bayard Award for Excellence in Comparative Literature (PSU)
2006Phi Beta Kappa
2006Evan Pugh Scholar Award
2006Commencement Marshal, Department of Comparative Literature
2005Africana Research Center Scholar
Professional Service
2012–Graduate Student Delegate, Department of Comparative Literature Graduate Committee
2011–2012Graduate Student Delegate, MLA Nominating Committee
2007–Board Member, Phi Beta Kappa, Lambda Chapter
2008–2009President, International Languages and Literatures Graduate Organization (Dept. grad organization)
2008–Travel Committee, Department of Comparative Literature
2006–2008Editorial Assistant, Comparative Literature Studies
Contact
457 Burrowes Building
University Park, PA 16802
Tel. 814-863-9816 • Fax 814-863-8882 • Email:
References
Eric HayotGabeba BaderoonJonathan Eburne
Penn State UniversityPenn State UniversityPenn State University
University Park, PAUniversity Park, PAUniversity Park, PA
814.865.1188814.865.2372814.863.0968
Last updated: September 17, 2018