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Department of English
Kizuri cha jiuza kibaya cha jitembeza
(Swahili – “Good things sell themselves; bad things advertise”)
J. Roger Kurtz
Department of English
Office: 203B Hartwell
Tel. 585-395-5823; Fax 585-395-2391
rkurtz@brockport.edu
Education:
Ph.D. – University of Iowa, 1994
B.A. – Eastern Mennonite University, 1985
Teaching and Research Interests:
African Literatures, especially East African
Caribbean Literatures
Magical Realism
Language, Literature and Cultural Identity
Religion and Literature
Awards and Honors:
Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship ( East Africa), 2006-07 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2003
Outstanding Teacher Award, Honors Program, 2002
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship for College Teachers, 2001
Fulbright-Hays Graduate Research Grant ( Kenya), 1992-93
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (Swahili) , 1992
Books :
Essays in East African Literature: A Critical Anthology . (Ed.) – forthcoming.
Nyarloka’s Gift: The Writing of Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye . Nairobi: Mvule Africa Publishers, 2005. Mvule Studies in African Literature, #1.
Urban Obsessions, Urban Fears: The Postcolonial Kenyan Novel . Oxford: James Currey Publishers and Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 1998.
Essays :
“Debating the Language of African Literature: Ethiopian Contributions” – forthcoming.
“Historical Perspective, Literary Insight: The National Narrative in Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye’s The Present Moment.” The Nairobi Journal of Literature 2 (March 2004): 37-48.
“Crossing Over: Identity and Change in Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye’s Song of Nyarloka.” Research in African Literatures 33:2 (Summer 2002), 100-18.
“Language and Ideology in Postcolonial Kenyan Literature: The Case of David Maillu’s Macaronic Fiction,” Readings in African Popular Fiction. Ed. Stephanie Newell. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002. 124-28.
“Afterword.” In Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye, Coming to Birth. New York: The Feminist Press, 2000. 151-87.
“Post-Marked Nairobi: Writing the City in Contemporary Kenya.” The Postcolonial Condition of African Literature. Eds. John Conteh-Morgan and Daniel Gover. Trenton NJ: Africa World Press, 2000. 103-110.
“Language and Ideology in Postcolonial Kenyan Literature: The Case of David Maillu’s Macaronic Fiction,” Journal of Commonwealth Literature 33.1 (Summer 1998): 63-73.
“Derek Walcott and the Value of Poetry.” Rendezvous 31.2 (Spring 1997): 67-83.
“Lloyd Fernando's Scorpion Orchid and Lord Jim's Dilemma.” Conradiana 28.2 (Summer 1996): 115-25.
Reference:
“A Grain of Wheat (Ngugi wa Thiong’o),” Cyclopedia of Literary Places. Pasadena CA: Salem Press (2003), 468-69.
“Ngugi wa Thiong’o” British Writers. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Scribner's (2002), 211-26.
“Francis Imbuga.” Encyclopedia of World Literature in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Steven Serafin. St. James Press, 1998. 465-66.
“Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye.” Encyclopedia of World Literature in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Steven Serafin. St. James Press, 1998. 145-46.
“Peter Nazareth.” Encyclopedia of World Literature in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Steven Serafin. St. James Press, 1998. 354-55.
“Grace Ogot.” Encyclopedia of World Literature in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Steven Serafin. St. James Press, 1998. 422-23.
“Francis Imbuga.” Postcolonial African Writers: A Sourcebook. Ed. Pushpa Parekh. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 228-33.
“Peter Nazareth.” Postcolonial African Writers: A Sourcebook. Ed. Pushpa Parekh. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 312-17.
“Meja Mwangi.” African Writers. Ed. Brian Cox. New York: Scribner's, 1996. 511-25.
Reviews :
The Bulldozer and the Word: Culture at Work in Postcolonial Nairobi, by Raoul Granqvist. In Research in African Literatures 37.2 (Summer 2006): 193-94.
Winging Words: Interviews with Nigerian Writers and Critics, ed. Ezenwa-Ohaeto. In World Literature Today 79.4 (September-December 2005): 83.
South African Poets on Poetry: Interviews from New Coin 1992-2001 , ed. Robert Berold. In World Literature Today 79.1 (January-April 2005): 85.
Oral Literature of the Asians in East Africa , by Mubina Hassanali Kirmani and Sanaullah Kirmani. H-AfrLitCine, H-Net Reviews, December 2004.
Saba, Under the Hyena’s Foot , by Jane Kurtz. H-AfrLitCine, H-Net Reviews, December 2004.
Africa Talks Back: Interviews with Anglophone African Authors , ed. Bernth Lindfors. In World Literature Today, 77:1 (April-June 2003), 83.
Stranger Shores : Literary Essays 1986-1999 , by J.M. Coetzee. In World Literature Today 76:2 (Spring 2002), 249.
The Roar of the Thunder God , by Larry Kumassah. In World Literature Today 76:1 (Winter 2002), 122-23.
The Picador Book of African Stories, ed. Stephen Gray. In World Literature Today 75:3/4 (Summer/Autumn 2001), 117.
The Companion to African Literatures , eds. Douglas Killam and Ruth Rowe. H-AfrLitCine, H-Net Reviews, September 2001.
African Literatures in English: East and West , by Gareth Griffiths. In World Literature Today 75:2 (Spring 2001), 303-04.
Can We Talk and Other Stories , by Shimmer Chinodya. In World Literature Today 75: 1 (Winter 2001), 100.
Leading the Cheers , by Justin Cartwright. In World Literature Today 74:2 (Spring 2000), 363-64.
Es'kia Mphahlele: Themes of Alienation and African Humanism , by Ruth Obee. In World Literature Today 74:2 (Spring 2000), 350.
Make It Sing and Other Poems , by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye. In World Literature Today 73:4 (Autumn 1999), 797.
The Growth of African Literature: Twenty-Five Years after Dakar and Fourah Bay , ed. Edris Makward, Thelma Ravell-Pinto and Aliko Songolo. H-AfrLitCine, H-Net Reviews, September 1999.
Dume's Roar and Kitoto the Mighty, by Tololwa Mollel. H-AfrTeach, H-Net Reviews, June 1999.
Chira , by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye. In World Literature Today 71:4 (Autumn 1997), 852.
Chira, by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye. In The African Book Publishing Record 23:3 (1997), 233.
Moral Issues in Kenya: A Personal View , by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye. In The African Book Publishing Record 23:3 (1997), 235.
East African Folktales for All Ages from the Voice of Mukamba , by Vincent Muli wa Kituku. H-AfrLitCine, H-Net Reviews, January 1998.
The Hanging Tree , by David Lambkin. In World Literature Today 71:2 (Spring 1997), 442-43.
New Writing from Southern Africa , Emmanuel Ngara, ed. In World Literature Today 71:1 (Winter 1997), 204-05.
The Enemy Within , by Steve Jacobs. In World Literature Today 70:4 (Autumn 1996), 1018-19.
Order and Partialities: Theory, Pedagogy and the “Postcolonial”, Kostas Myrsiades and Jerry McGuire, eds. In World Literature Today 70:2 (Spring 1996), 482-83.
Homing In , by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye. In World Literature Today 69:4 (Autumn 1995), 853-54.
