Jane Davis

Associate Professor
Department of Languages, Literature, and PhilosophyJane Davis

Education:

Ph.D., Modern Thought and Literature; Humanities—Stanford University

Bio:

Before coming to TSU, Dr. Davis was a Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching and Research Fellow for two years at the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University and an Associate Professor of English at Iowa State University. Her interests include: American Literature with an emphasis on African American Literature; Multicultural American Literature; Modern Literature; Film; Environmental Literature; South African Literature.

She has also been a participant in NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes at University of Chicago (Topic: Culture and Communication in Early Islamic Communities); UC Berkeley (Topic: Race and Slavery in American Literature); Indiana University (Topic: Post-Colonial Literature); CUNY Grad Center (Topic: Emergent/Multicultural American Literature); College of New Jersey (Topic: African American Literature)

Selected Academic and/or Popular Press Publications:

The White Image in the Black Mind: A Study of African American Literature (Greenwood Press, 2000), named one of the Outstanding Books of 2000 by Choice, the official review journal of the Association of Academic and Research Libraries.

South Africa: A Botched Civilization? Racial Conflict and Identity in Selected South African Novels (University Press of America, 1997).

Co-author with Anne Richards, “Fighting for ‘Deep Change’ in the Quest for Diversity: Iowa State University’s Multicultural Learning Community” in Education Landscapes in the 21st Century: Cross-cultural Challenges and Multi-disciplinary Perspectives , Eds. Iris Guske and Bruce C. Swaffield. (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008).

“Seeing the Unspeakable: Emmett Till and American Terrorism” in Writing the Visual: A Practical Guide for Teachers of Composition and Communication, Eds. Carol David and Anne Richards. (Parlor Press, 2007).

Selected Conference Presentations:

SAMLA:

“Urban Destruction, Environmental Murder, Geo-Psychological Scarring, and the Question of “Recovery,” for Special Session on The Preservation of Place: Regionalism and Ecological Conservation, SAMLA Conference, Atlanta (Spring, 2010).

“Today's Messengers: Comix, Detectives and Time Travelers” for panel on Aliens, Private Eyes, and Superheroes in the Classroom: The Place of Genre Fiction in Literature and Composition, SAMLA Conference, Atlanta (Fall, 2010).

“Escape into Reality”: Octavia Butler and 'The Fierce Urgency of (the Perpetual) Now,’” for session on Science Fiction and Fantasy, SAMLA Conference, Atlanta (November, 2009).

American Literature Association Conference:

“Countering Covert Racism in the Construction of the Environmental Canon: Black Writers Centrality to Environmental Literature,” ALA (American Literature Association) Conference, St. Louis University (Spring, 2007).

CLA (College Language Association) Conference :

“Correcting Distortions Arising from The Autobiography of Malcolm X: "True" Islam in Malcolm's Spiritual Journey,” CLA (College Language Association) Conference, Miami (April, 2007).

Worldwide Forum on Education and Culture, Rome, Italy:

“Looking Beyond ‘Evil’: Demonization vs. Understanding after 9/11”; Worldwide Forum on Education and Culture, Rome (November, 2004).

“A World of ‘Outsiders’”: Literary Pedagogical Ways of Promoting the Value of ‘Difference’ in the Choice Between ‘Chaos or Community’ in a Post-9/11 World”; Worldwide Forum on Education and Culture, Rome (November, 2003).

With Anne Richards: “Actualizing Transformative Education in a Multicultural Learning Community”; Worldwide Forum on Education and Culture, Rome (November, 2002).

American Council of Higher Education Conference:

“Multicultural Issues in Composition Courses for First Year Students”; American Council of Higher Education Conference on Educating All for One Nation, Atlanta, GA (October, 2003).

Invited Talk

“Islamic Values in the Philosophy of Malcolm X: Their Relevance to the United States, Post 9/11; speaker for Black History Month, Kennesaw State University, Georgia (February 9, 2006).

Classes Taught at TSU:

Contemporary American Fiction
Contemporary Black Novel
Literature of Black Life in America
Teaching Literature in a Diverse Society (grad course)

Sophomore Courses

Black Arts and Literature
Black Short Story and Novel
World Literature II
Early American Literature

Before coming to TSU, Jane also taught the following courses:

Science Fiction
Literature and Environment
Multicultural American Literature
Post-Colonial Literature
Black Women Writers
American Literature Since 1865






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Languages, Literature, and Philosophy