Research and Teaching:

Mariam Konate Deme, Assistant Professor, Africana Studies
holds "Licence Es Lettres" in English and "Maitrise Es Lettres" (African
Literature), from Universite de Ouagadougou; M.A. and a Ph.D. in African-
American Studies from Temple University in Philadelphia. Dr. Deme has both a keen interest and a strong background in the study of Francophone and Anglophone African literature and culture, as well as in African-American history, literature and culture. Her dissertation examines "The Role and
Functions of the Supernatural in the African Epic." Her forthcoming article
in The Journal of Black Studies, "The Supernatural in the African Epic: Toward
a Critical Analysis" argues the failure of Western literary criticism
to acknowledge the distinctiveness of African literary aesthetics and the
need to revise traditional literary canons to reflect the social, cultural
and historical specificity of Africa and its peoples. Dr. Deme's research
interests include reformulating traditional literary canons where literature,
culture and society intersect, as well as Black women's collective
thought as a critical theory that reflects their efforts to fight against,
intersecting oppressions of race, class, gender. Her particular interest
in comparative literature and cultural studies focuses on the impact of the
oral tradition on African, African-American, and Caribbean literatures and
cinemas. Dr. Deme is coming to Western Michigan University from Bowling
Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio where she has been teaching
in both the Ethnic and Africana Studies programs for the past three
years. She is also a member of the curriculum development of Culture Connections.