education

Ph.D. French literature, University of Rochester, l974.
M. A. French literature, Tufts University, l968
B. A. French literature, Tufts University, l964

administrative experience

2001-present, Head, Department of French.

1993-01 Graduate Officer, Comparative Literature Department; oversaw recruitment, funding, and relations with other departments, College of the Liberal Arts, and University, for graduate program housing 50 students from four continents.

l975-00 Coordinator, African Studies Advisory Committee, Department of African and African-American Studies. Designed courses in African Studies, developed African language program jointly supported by this unit and Comparative Literature Department, organized special events focussing on Africa.

1999 National Panels Chairperson (=program director) for 42nd annual meeting of the African Studies Assocation, Nov. 11-14, Philadelphia. Planned program for the largest annual gathering of Africanists in the world.

1997-99 Project Director, "New Connections Between Africa and Penn State," to strengthen African Studies here under terms of grant from the Title VI Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program of the U. S. Department of Education by creating new courses and delivering existing courses via interactive video to branch campuses.

l991-93 Chairperson, Association of African Studies Programs; increased membership from 40 to 60 institutions; organized and chaired annual two-day meeting in Washington with representatives of 15 funding and policy-making agencies concerned with Africa (State Department, Congress, USAID, USIA, World Bank, Dept. of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, Social Science Research Council, Council for International Education Exchange, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and foundations). Planned and chaired Fall business session at annual African Studies Association meeting; managed budget, coordinated activities, represented views of AASP to public and private organizations, governments, and individuals.

l986-90 Administrator, exchange program in African literature & languages and English as a Second Language between Penn State and the University of Niamey. Funded by a United States Information Agency University Affiliation Grant. Negotiated inter-university agreement, managed budget, scheduled exchanges of scholars, wrote final report.

l984-85 Acting Director, Comparative Literature Program (l.5 years) Managed budget, scheduled courses and faculty, directed graduate admissions, negotiated staffing with cooperating departments, recruited new faculty, and advised graduate students from 20 countries. Documented and wrote Strategic Planning Report that was key tool for successful effort to upgrade program to departmental status in 1985. Service as acting director stemmed from sabbatical of director and her subsequent stint as planning officer for Dean of Liberal Arts.

l975-88 Coordinator, undergraduate studies, French Department. Curriculum planning, coordination of advising in all four options (business, translation, language & culture, literature), preparation of handbook for majors, coordination of overseas study courses with University Park campus offerings.

l977 Coordinator, Black Studies Program (Spring term). Budget, planning, scheduling, and management while awaiting arrival of new director.

l974-79 Secretary-Treasurer of the African Literature Association. Primary executive officer for international professional association that began with 40 members and grew to 400 by the end of 1979. Handled dues, newsletter production, annual business meeting, and management of the organization.

l967 Administrative Assistant to Director, Tufts University National Defense Education Act French Institute for Undergraduates (part-time, Feb.-May, full-time, summer). Planned program, scheduled classes and activities, supervised audio-visual services, worked on budget, final report.

l966-68 Aide, part-time, to Chairman of Romance Languages, Tufts Univ. Scheduled courses, advised students, organized special events, handled correspondence, solved problems.

l964-66 Agricultural Cooperative Assistant, Union Nigérienne de Crédit et de Coopération, Tillabéri, Niger. Assigned by U. S. Peace Corps and Government of Niger to assist in management of 9 agricultural cooperatives in Niger River valley: managed inventories, demonstrated agricultural technology, supervised rice markets, installed and repaired equipment, trained personnel, distributed supplies, developed system for communicating written information in Songhay language to farmers.

teaching experience

l973 to present Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor of African, French, and Comparative Literature, Penn State Univ.

French Department:
French for Reading
Advanced Conversation and Grammar
African Literature of French Expression
African Novel in French
Francophone Cultures
Comparative Literature Department:
Masterpieces of Literature from Africa
African Novel
African Drama
The African Griot
Seminar on African Literature
coordinator of Arabic I, II, and III
coordinator of Swahili I, II, and III
African and African-American Studies
Introduction to Contemporary Africa

1980-8l Visiting Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Université de Niamey, Niger

English Department
African Novel
American Civilization
English for non-majors

l97l-72 Teaching Assistant in French, University of Rochester

Department of Language and Linguistics
Intermediate French
l968-69 Assistant d'anglais, Lycée Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France

English conversation for high school students.
Assistant d'anglais, Centre Régional de Documentation Pédagogique,
Clermont-Ferrand: English for secondary school teachers.
Chargé de cours, Université de Clermont, Clermont-Ferrand English
for adult learners in evening school.

1967-68 Teaching Assistant in French, Tufts Univerisity

Department of Romance Languages, Intermediate French

publications

books

Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music. Study of keepers of the oral tradition in West Africa from the 14th century to the present, from Bamako to New York City. Indiana University Press. 1998. 412 pages.

Oral Epics from Africa: Vibrant Voices from a Vast Continent, collection of excerpts from 25 African epics. Co-edited with John William Johnson, Indiana University and Stephen Belcher, Penn State. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997. 331 pages. Selected as an "Outstanding Academic Book" for 1998 by Choice.

The Epic of Askia Mohammed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. New introduction and notes for revised English translation that originally appeared in bilingual Songhay-English format in 1990 in Scribe, Griot, and Novelist. 90 pages. Excerpts from this epic have appeared in Les epopées d'Afrique noire, eds. Lilyan Kesteloot and Bassirou Dieng, Paris, Karthala & UNESCO, 1997, pp. 404-414, and in HarperCollins World Reader, eds. Mary Ann Caws and Christopher Prendergast, New York, HarperCollins, 1994, 1068-1075.

Scribe, Griot, and Novelist: Narrative Interpreters of the Songhay Empire. Followed by The Epic of Askia Mohammed Recounted by Nouhou Malio. The University of Florida Press and Center for African Studies, 1990. 313 pages. Comparative study based on 16th & 17th century Arabic chronicles from Timbuktu, Mali, a recently-recorded epic from Niger, and a modern novel in French from Mali.

Artist and Audience: African Literature as a Shared Experience, co-edited with Richard K. Priebe. Washington: Three Continents Press & African Literature Association, l979. 203 pages. Selected papers from meeting of the African Literature Association.

Les Ecrits d'Aimé Césaire: bibliographie commentée. Montréal: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal & Etudes françaises, l4.3-4, l978. 308 pages. A detailed bibliographical listing of 494 texts by the Martinican inventor of the term négritude. Contains excerpts and analysis of each text. Now serves as the basic research tool for early Césaire studies.

The Teaching of African Literature, co-edited with Richard K. Priebe. Austin: University of Texas Press & African Literature Association, l977. 3l9 pages. Second edition, Three Continents Press, l989. Selected papers from meetings of the African Literature Association and the Modern Language Association.

articles forthcoming

"Griots of West Africa," in Encyclopedia ofAfrican Folklore, eds. Philip Peek and Kwesi Yankah. Garland Press, Fall 2003.

"Griots and Griottes in Sundiata." Sundiata, CD-ROM produced by Tufts University. Eds. Lynda Shaffer and Heywood James. Fall 2003.

articles, chapters, and sections of books published

"The Social Functions of Griots and Griottes in the Sahel and the Savanna Regions of West Africa." Camel Tracks: Critical Perspectives on Sahelian Literature, eds. Deborah Boyd-Buggs and Joyce Hope Scott. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2003. pp.31-60.

"Translating the African Oral Epic: The Example of Askia Mohammed, " Metamorphoses, special issue of translations of sub-Saharan African literature, vol. 10, no.1, Spring 2002, pp.222-235.

"L'Universel et le particulier des Droits de l'Homme, " in Aime Cesaire: pour regarder le siecle en face. Annick Thebia-Melsan & Gerard Lamoureux, eds. Paris: Mausonneuve & Larose, 2000 [appeared 2002], pp. 16-19.

"Francophone African Literature and the Hexagon: Building Bridges for the New Millennium," French Review, vol. 72, no. 3, February 1999, 444-455.

"West Africa's Electric Educators," Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology, vol. 7, no. 4, Winter 1998, 26-30.

"From the Griot of Roots to the Roots of Griot: A New Look at the Origins of a Controversial West African Term for Bard," Oral Tradition,vol. 12, no. 2, 1997, 249-278.

"A Siin de Mé: Learning to Teach the African Oral Epic in African Literature Courses," Women's Studies Quarterly, special issue on "Teaching African Literatures in the Global Literary Economy," 3-4, 1997, 188-200.

"Piloting Through Turbulence: Griots, Islam, and the French Encounter in Four Epics About 19th Century West African Heroes," co-author with Brett C. Bowles. The Marabout and the Muse: New Approaches to Islam in African Literature. Ed. Kenneth Harrow. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1996, 77-91.

"La Conquête marocaine du Songhay dans la tradition orale." Le Maroc et l'Afrique subsaharienne au débuts des temps modernes: Les Sa'diens et l'Empire Songhay. Ed. Ahmed Toufiq. Rabat: Institute of African Studies, 1995, 305-312.

"A la recherche de l'épopée antillaise: Son-Jara, Soundjata, et Cahier d'un retour au pays natal," Oeuvres et Critiques, special issue on Aimé Césaire, vol. 19, no. 2, 1994, 107-112

"Griottes: Female Voices from West Africa." Research in African Literatures, vol. 25, no. 3, Fall 1994, 71-91.

"Tufanye Kazi Pamoja: Undergraduate African Studies and the Association of African Studies Programs." chapter in African Studies and the Undergraduate Curriculum. Eds. Patricia Alden, David Lloyd, and Ahmed I. Samatar. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1994, 311-315.

Introductions, transitions, and translations for excerpts from three West African epics in the HarperCollins World Reader, vol. 1, From Antiquity to the Early Modern World, eds. Mary Ann Caws & Christopher Prendergast. New York: HarperCollins, 1994, 1054-63, 1068-1075.

"Can a Single Foot Follow Two Paths? Islamic and Songhay Belief Systems in the Timbuktu Chronicles and The Epic of Askia Mohammed," Faces of Islam in African Literature, ed. Kenneth Harrow. London: Heinemann, l991. l3l-l40.

"African Literature, Humanities, and Humans: Teaching to Two Audiences in the Era of Bloom and Bennett," Matatu, special issue on "Canonization and Teaching of African Literature," Fall 1990. 91-100.

"Dramaturge et Public: la nature interactive du théâtre d'Aimé Césaire," in Aimé Césaire ou l'athanor d'un alchimiste, ed. Jacqueline Leiner. Paris: Editions Caribéennes, 1987. 195-200.

"Oral Art, Society, and Survival in the Sahel Zone," co-author with Paul Stoller, in African Literature Studies: The Present State / L'Etat présent, ed. Stephen Arnold. Washington and Edmonton: Three Continents Press, African Literature Association, and Institute for Research in Comparative Literature, l985. l63-l69.

"Islam and the Griots in West Africa: Bridging the Gap Between Two Traditions," Africana Journal, l3.l-4, l985. 84-90.

"Littérature orale: le discours comme arme de combat chez Aimé Césaire," in Soleil éclaté, ed. Jacqueline Leiner. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, l984. l73-l86.

"Césaire dans le monde blanc de l'Amérique du nord," in Césaire 70 , eds. Ngal Mwabil a Mpang & Martin Steins. Paris: Silex, l984. l09-l2l.

"Kings, Scribes and Bards: A Look at Signs of Survival for Keepers of the Oral Tradition Among the Songhay-speaking Peoples of Niger," Artes Populares, 10-11, l984, 207-220.

"Africa and the West: Close Encounters of a Literary Kind," Comparative Literature Studies, 20.3, Fall l983, 26l-275.

"From Written Literature to the Oral Tradition and Back: Camara Laye, Babou Condé, and Le Maître de la Parole: Kouma Lafôlô Kouma," French Review, 55.6, May l982, 790-797.

"Two Decades, Four Versions: The Evolution of Aimé Césaire's Cahier d'un retour au pays natal, in When the Drumbeat Changes, eds. Carolyn Parker and Stephen Arnold. Washington: Three Continents Press, l98l. l86-l95.

"Trente-cinq ans de critique césairienne," Oeuvres et Critiques, 3.2-4.l, automne l979, 89-99.

"The Problem of Africanisms in African Literature Written in Western Languages," co-author with Gérard Pigeon, in Artist and Audience: African Literature as a Shared Experience, eds. Richard K. Priebe and Thomas A. Hale. Washington: Three Continents Press, l979. 77-83.

"Audio-Visual Approaches to the Birth of Black Literature of French Expression," in The Teaching of African Literature, eds. Thomas A. Hale and Richard K. Priebe. Austin: University of Texas Press & African Literature Association, l977. 26-40.

"Structural Dynamics in a Third World Classic: Aimé Césaire's Cahier d'un retour au pays natal," Yale French Studies, 53, l976, l63-l74.

"From Afro-America to Afro-France: The Literary Triangle Trade," French Review, 49.6, May l976, l089-l096.

"Aimé Césaire: A Bio-Bibliography," Africana Journal, 5.l, Spring l974, 3-39. Revised and expanded version in Caribbean Writers, ed. Donald Herdeck. Washington: Three Continents Press, l979. 323-334.

"Sur Une tempête d'Aimé Césaire," Etudes littéraires, 6.l, avril l973, 2l-35.

translation

(with Richard Bjornson, Ohio State University): "Power and Its Portrayals in Royal Mandé Narratives," Lilyan Kesteloot, Research in African Literatures, Spring l991, 22.1, l7-25.

video

Griottes of the Sahel: Female Keepers of the Oral Tradition in Niger, 11-minute video based on recordings made in Niger in February l989. Written and produced by Thomas A. Hale; edited and directed by Marie Hornbein, Center for Instructional Design and Interactive Technologies, Penn State. Distributed by Audio-Visual Services, Penn State University.

editorial & bibliographical work

Editorial Board, Oral Tradition, 2002

Editorial Board, H-AfrLitCin (Humanities-African Literature & Cinema), electronic forum based at Michigan State University and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. 1995.

Editorial Advisory Board, The HarperCollins World Reader. Volume 1, Antiquity to the Early Modern World. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.

Co-editor, with John Johnson, Indiana University, of African epic series for Indiana University Press. 1992 to present.

Associate Editor, Comparative Literature Studies, l986 to present.

Assistant Editor for francophone area, French Review, l985 to present.

Head, African Section, Modern Language Association International Bibliography, l984 to 2001.

Co-editor, with Lilyan Kesteloot, Université de Dakar, Cahiers césairiens, l974-l980.

Co-editor, with Richard K. Priebe, Virginia Commonwealth University, African Literature Association Newsletter, l974-78.

consultancies

ACLS evaluation committee, 2001, 2002.

Fulbright Screening Committee for West Africa, 1981-83, 2000, 2002.

Kennedy Center African Arts Collaborative, consultant on planning for Africa-oriented programs, 1997-2001.

Ministry of Culture, France: member of advisory committee for "La Force de Regarder Demain" (the strength to face tomorrow), international traveling exhibit on impact of Martinican writer Aimé Césaire on world culture, 1995-96.

National Endowment for the Humanities

Research Grant Program: reviewer, l984, 1985, l987, 1993, 1994.
Translation Grant Program: reviewer, 1982, 1991, 1993
Fellowships for College Teachers: panelist, 1994, 2002

National Endowment for the Arts

Translation Projects in Poetry: reviewer, 1998

Foreign Service Institute: guest lecturer three times per year for diplomats assigned to francophone Africa, l981-83.

Library of Congress, African Section: Songhay language & historical information for speech by Vice President George Bush at Blair House to welcome President Seyni Kountché and delegation from Niger, l984.

Fulbright Program: African literature screening committee, l981-83.

Community College of Philadelphia, for faculty development in African literature, 1998.

West Virginia State College, for faculty development in African literature, 1998.

external fellowships, grants

National Endowment for the Humanities, Collaborative Research Grant, with Aissata Sidikou-Morton, Princeton University, and team of 20 scholars, for research on "Women's songs from West Africa, 2001-2004. $150,000

UBUNTU Network, grant to plan special events at the 42nd annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Philadelphia, Nov. 11-14, 1999 (two videoconference events, artistic residency by group of griots). $10,000

African Studies Association, grant to plan program of 42nd annual meeting (oversaw program committee and evaluation of approximately 800 papers). $3,500

South West Texas State University, grant to develop instructional software for Swahili, $9000 (section of part of grant subcontracted by Robert Fischer to Comparative Literature Department at Penn State).

U. S. Department of Education, Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program, grant to strengthen African Studies at Penn State, 1997-1999. $98,546.

National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowship for University Teachers for "Griots of West Africa: Their Verbal Art and Social Function," 1991-92. $30,000.

American Philosophical Society, grant for research on griots in Mali, February 1992. $3,000.

U. S. Department of Education, grant with Patricia Dunkel and Beverly Mack for development of computer-adaptive listening comprehension test for English as a Second Language and Hausa, 1990-91. $86,000.

National Endowment for the Humanities Travel-to-Collections, grant for research on griots in archives in Paris and Aix-en-Provence, June 1990. $750.

African-American Institute, grant for design and management of post-doctoral program of study for visiting scholar from Mali, l989. $3,000.

U. S. Information Agency, University Affiliation Program, grant for exchanges in English and African languages and literatures between The Pennsylvania State University and Université de Niamey, l986-90. $50,000.

American Council of Learned Societies, travel grant to attend Aimé Césaire colloquium, Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique, Paris, l985. $600.

National Endowment for the Humanities, Travel-to-Collections, grant for research on griots at the Archive de Littérature Orale Africaine, Centre d'Etudes Africaines, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, l984. $750.

American Council of Learned Societies, travel grant to attend colloquium on francophone literature, University of Padua, l982. $600.

U. S. Information Agency, University Affiliation Program, grant for exchanges in the humanities between The Pennsylvania State University and Université de Yaoundé, l983-86 (second author of proposal with Richard L. Frautschi). $50,000.

Fulbright Senior Lectureship, Université de Niamey, Niger, l980-81. $25,000.

National Endowment for the Humanities, Youthgrant in the Humanities for dissertation research on Aimé Césaire in France, Martinique, and Haiti, l972-73. $3,200.

Société des Professeurs Français en Amérique, travel grant, summer l972, for dissertation research in Paris on Aimé Césaire, $500.

Fulbright travel grant to France, l968-69, to take French government assistantship in Clermont-Ferrand, $500.

awards from Pennsylvania State University

2001 Association of African Studies Programs, François Manchuelle award, Honorable Mention, for project to teach courses on Africa via interactive video from University Park to students at four Penn State campuses.

2000 College of the Liberal Arts, Liberal Arts Professorship, 2000. Reduction in teaching load, annual research fund.

1998 Office of the Provost, Collaborative Instructional and Curricular Innovation award ($730) for development of courses offered via interactive video to students at University Park and five other campuses.

1997 & 1998 College of the Liberal Arts, Research and Graduate Studies Office, award ($500) "for outstanding performance as a graduate officer."

1995 International Council, first recipient of the International Achievement Award ($1,000) "for significant contributions and accomplishments in advancing the international mission of the University."

1995 College of the Liberal Arts, Distinction in the Humanities--Class of 1933 Award ($1,000

professional honors based on elections

Member, Board of Directors, West African Research Association, 1995-99.
Delegate, Ethnic Literature Division, Modern Language Associ. 1994-97.
Chairperson, Association of African Studies Programs, 1991-93.
Chairman, Modern Language Association French Literature Outside of Europe Division, l982.
President, African Literature Association, l981-82.
Chairman, Modern Language Association, African Literatures Division l977.

research outside of the United States
1972 France (summer)
1973 Martinique & Haiti (January)
1980-8l Niger (academic year)
1984 Cameroon (May)
France (August)
1987 Niger (February)
1989 Niger (February)
1990 France (June)
1991 France (June-July)
Gambia & Senegal (September-October)
1992 Mali (February)
Morocco (October)
1993 United Kingdom (June)
1994 France (July)
1995 France (January)
1999 France and Italy
2001 France
2002 France

languages

French: speak, write, listen, and read with near-native ability.
Songhay: speak, write, listen, and read at advanced level.
Swahili: intermediate speaking, reading, listening, and writing ability
Spanish: intermediate reading, basic listening, speaking, and writing ability.
Portuguese: basic reading ability.
Arabic: advanced beginner reading ability.
Middle Egyptian hieroglyphics, beginner reading ability
memberships

American Association of Teachers of French
Modern Language Association of America
American Comparative Literature Association
African Studies Association (National Panels Chair, 1999 meeting)
African Literature Association (one of the founders)
Société des Africanistes (French association of African Studies scholars)
African Language Teachers Association
West African Research Association
Mandé Studies Association
Saharan Studies Association
American Folklore Society
 

This page is maintained by Lynn A. Setzler.
Page last modified on September 16, 2004.