Thomas A. Hale

education

Ph. D. French literature, University of Rochester, 1974.
M. A.   French literature, Tufts University, 1968
B. A.    French literature, Tufts University, 1964

administrative experience

2001 to present, Head, Department of French and Francophone Studies,
The Pennsylvania State University.

1999  Program Director  for 42nd annual meeting of the African Studies Association, Nov. 11-14, Philadelphia.

1975-00  Coordinator, African Studies Advisory Committee, Department of African  and African-American Studies.

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. 

1991-93 Chairperson, Association of African Studies Programs. 

1986-90 Administrator, exchange program in African literatures & languages and English as a Second Language between Penn State and  University of Niamey, Niger.

1984-85 Acting Director, Comparative Literature Program (18 months).  

1975-88 Coordinator, undergraduate studies, French Department.                      

1974-79  Secretary-Treasurer  of the African Literature Association.

1977  Coordinator, Black Studies Program (Spring term).
         
1967 Administrative Assistant to Director, Tufts University National Defense Education Act French Institute for Undergraduates.
          
1966-68  Aide to Chairman of Romance Languages, Tufts University.  

1964-66  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. 

teaching experience

1973-07      French and Francophone Studies Department:
                       French for Reading
                      Advanced Conversation and Grammar
                      African Literature of French Expression
                      African Novel in French
                      Francophone Cultures
                      Forces of Change in Contemporary French Cultural Politics
                      Black Paris

                    Comparative Literature Department
                       Masterpieces of Literature from Africa
                       African Novel            
                       African Drama
                       The African Griot
                       Seminar on African Literature
                      African Literatures in African Languages
                     
                   African and African-American Studies Department
                       Introduction to Contemporary Africa

1980-81  Fulbright Senior Lecturer, University of Niamey, Niger
                    English Department
                       African Novel
                       American Civilization
                       English for non-majors       
 
197l-72 Teaching Assistant, University of Rochester
                     Department of Language and Linguistics
                       Intermediate French

1968-69 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 training for secondary school treachers.

             Chargé de cours, Université de Clermont, Clermont-Ferrand.  English for adult learners in evening school.

l967-68 Teaching Assistant, Tufts University
             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. Indiana University Press. 1998. 412 pages.  Second edition, 2007.

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.  In Dutch prose translation as De strijd om Gao: Een geschiedenis uit Niger, trans. Geert Mommersteeg.  Rijswijk: Uitgevery Elmar, 1999, 96 pages.  Excerpts in French in Les épopées d'Afrique noire, eds. Lilyan Kesteloot and Bassirou Dieng. Paris: Karthala & UNESCO, 1997, 404-414, and in English 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, The Epic of Askia Mohammed from Niger,  and Le Devoir de violence, a modern novel in French from Mali.  Chapter 8 reprinted as "Rewriting the Songhay Past in Yambo Ouologuem's Le Devoir de violence," in Yambo Ouologuem, Postcolonial Writer, Islamic Militant, ed. Christopher Wise.  Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1999. 155-174.

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 the 1977 meeting of the African Literature Association.

Les Ecrits d'Aimé Césaire: bibliographie commentée.  Montréal: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal & Etudes françaises, 14.3-4, 1978. 308 pages.   A detailed bibliographical listing with excerpts and analysis of 494 texts by the Martinican inventor of the term négritude.

The Teaching of African Literature, co-edited with Richard K. Priebe. Austin: University of Texas Press & African Literature Association, 1977. 319 pages.  Second edition, Washington: Three Continents Press, 1989.  Selected papers from meetings of the African Literature Association and the Modern  Language Association.

     articles, chapters, and sections of books published

"Bursting at the Seams: New Dimensions for African Literature in the 21st Century.  African Literature Today, no. 25, Spring 2005. 10-21.

"De Sotuma-Sere à New York City, l'itinéraire de jali Papa Bunka Susso, griot gambien." Africultures, no. 61, octobre-décembre 2004. 86-95.

"Griots of West Africa," African Folklore: An Encyclopedia, eds. Philip Peek and Kwesi Yankah.  New York: Routledge,  2004. 162-164.

"The Social Functions of Griots and Griottes in the Sahel and 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. 31-60.

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

"L’Universel et le particulier des Droits de l’Homme," in Aimé Césaire: pour regarder le siècle en face.  Annick Thebia-Melsan & Gérard Lamoureux, eds. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 2000 [appeared 2002]. 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, October 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."  African Studies and the Undergraduate Curriculum. Eds. Patricia Alden, David Lloyd, and Ahmed I. Samatar.  Boulder: 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. 13l-140.  
                 
"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. 109-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.  Now available on-line from The Literature Research Center.

"From Afro-America to Afro-France: The Literary Triangle Trade," French Review, 49.6, May l976. 1089-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 1973. 2l-35.

   translation: (with Richard Bjornson, Ohio State University): "Power and Its Portrayals in Royal Mandé Narratives," Lilyan Kesteloot, Research in African Literatures, Spring 1991, 22.1.  17-25.

   video: Griottes of the Sahel: Female Keepers of the Oral Tradition in Niger, l1-minute video based on recordings made in Niger in February 1989.  Written and produced by Thomas A. Hale; edited and directed by Marie Hornbein, Center for Instructional Design and Interactive Technologies, Penn State.  Distributed by Media Sales, Penn State University (mediasales@outreach.psu.edu).

editorial & bibliographical work

Editorial board, Symposium, 2007 to present.

Editorial board, Penn State Romance Studies, Penn State Press, 2005 to present.

Co-editor, with Bernard Aresu, Rice University, special Caribbean issue of French Review, May 2003, vol. 76, no. 6. 

Editorial Board, Oral Tradition, 2002 to present.

Advisory Board, “Women Writing Africa Project,” Feminist Press, City University of New York, 2001 to present.

Editorial Board, H-AfrLitCin (Humanities-African Literature & Cinema), electronic forum based at Michigan State University and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. 1995-00.

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, 1986 to present.

Assistant Editor for francophone area, French Review, 1985 to present.

Head and Senior Bibliographer, African Section, Modern Language Association International Bibliography, 1984-2002.

Co-editor, with Lilyan Kesteloot, University of Dakar, Cahiers césairiens, 1974-1980.

Co-editor, with Richard K. Priebe, Virginia Commonwealth University, African Literature Association Newsletter, 1974-78.

Consultancies

Chateaubriand jury, French Cultural Service, Washington, April 2005.

Arizona State University, external evaluator of French program, February 2005.

Swiss National Science Foundation, evaluator for Dutch-Swiss proposal on griots, March, 2003.

Indiana University, member of 3-person evaluation team for external evaluation of African Studies Program, Feb 9-11, 2003.

American Council of Learned Societies, evaluator of research proposals related to Africa, 2002, 2003.

U. S. Department of State, member of three-person team of specialists on Niger invited to give seminar Oct. 11, 2002, in Washington for ambassador-designate to Niger to prepare her for her new post.

Fulbright Screening Committee, Institute of International Education;
    Evaluation of U. S. faculty applicants for research on African literature, 1981-83.
    Evaluation of U. S. graduate student applicants for research in Africa, 2000, 2002, 2006.

National Endowment for the Humanities

           Collaborative Research, reviewer, 2001, panelist 2007.
           Research Grant Program, reviewer, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1993, 1994.
          Translation Grant Program, reviewer, 1982, 1991, 1993
           Fellowships for College Teachers, panelist, 1994
           Fellowships for University Teachers, panelist, 2002

Kennedy Center African Arts Collaborative, consultant on planning for Africa-oriented programs, 1997-2000.

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

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

National Endowment for the Arts, Translation Projects in Poetry,  reviewer, 1998

Ministry of Culture, France, member of  advisory committee for "La Force de Regarder Demain," international traveling exhibit on impact of Martinican writer Aimé Césaire on world culture, 1995-96.

Vice President George Bush, Songhay language and historical information for speech at Blair House to welcome President Seyni Kountché and delegation from Niger, 1984.

U. S. Department of State, Foreign Service Institute, guest lecturer and consultant three times per year for diplomats assigned to francophone Africa, 1981-83.

internal funding (most recent)

Two grants from the Penn State Institute for the Arts and Humanities for interdisciplinary graduate seminars on Forces of Change in Contemporary French Cultural Politics (Spring 2005,  $7,500, with Willa Silverman and Monique Yaari) and Black Paris (Spring 2007, $7,500, with Jennifer Boittin and Jonathan Eburne).

external funding

French Cultural Service, grants to subsidize cost of offering two interdisciplinary graduate seminars: Forces of Change in Contemporary French Cultural Politics, 2005 ($3000, with Monique Yaari and Willa Silverman), Black Paris, 2007 ($3750, with Jennifer Boittin and Jonathan Eburne).

French Cultural Service, grants to subsidize the cost of the film series sponsored by the Dept of French and Francophone Studies in Spring 2002 ($1,200, with Vera Mark); 2002-2003 ($1,800, with Vera Mark), and 2003-2004 ($1,800, with Allan Stoekl).

National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research grant, with Aissata Sidikou-Morton, Princeton University, for "Women's Voices from West Africa," June 1, 2001 to May 31, 2007.  $150,000.

UBUNTU Network, grant to plan special events at 42nd annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Philadelphia, Nov. 11-14, 1999. $10,000.

African Studies Association, grant to plan program of 42nd annual meeting. $3,500.

South West Texas State University, grant to develop instructional software for Swahili, $9,000.

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 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, 1989. $3,000.

U. S. Information Agency, University Affiliation Program, grant for exchanges in English and African languages and literatures between Penn State and University of Niamey, 1986-90. $50,000.

American Council of Learned Societies, travel grant to attend Aimé Césaire colloquium, Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique (now Organisation International de la Francophonie), Paris, 1985. $600.

National Endowment for the Humanities, travel grant for research on griots at the Archive de Littérature Orale Africaine, Centre d'Etudes Africaines, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 1984. $750.

American Council of Learned Societies, travel grant to attend colloquium on francophone literature, University of Padua, 1982. $600.

U. S. Information Agency,  University Affiliation Program, grant for exchanges in the humanities between Penn State and University of Yaoundé, 1983-86 (with Richard L. Frautschi). $50,000.

Fulbright Senior Lectureship, University of Niamey, Niger, 1980--81. $25,000.

National Endowment for the Humanities,  Youthgrant in the Humanities for dissertation research on Aimé Césaire in France, Martinique, and Haiti, 1972-73. $3,200.

Société des Professeurs Français en Amérique, travel grant, summer 1972, for dissertation research in Paris on Aimé Césaire, $500.

Fulbright travel grant to France, 1968-69, to take French government assistantship in Clermont-Ferrand, $500.

Awards

Pennsylvania State University, College of the Liberal Arts, Edwin Erle Sparks Professorship in African, French, and Comparative Literature, 2006 to present.  Includes research funds and reduction in teaching load.

Association of African Studies Programs, François Manchuelle award, 2001, honorable mention for project to teach African Studies courses by video to students  at Penn State branch campuses, 1997-2001.

Pennsylvania State University, College of the Liberal Arts, Liberal Arts Professorship in African, French, and Comparative Literature (2000-2006).  Included reduced teaching load, annual research fund, and salary increase.

Pennsylvania State University, Office of the Provost, Collaborative Instructional and Curricular Innovation award ($730) for development of African Studies courses via video to students at branch campuses, 1998.

Pennsylvania State University, College of the Liberal Arts, Research and Graduate Studies Office, award ($500) "for outstanding performance as a graduate officer" in 1997-98; also 1998-1999.

Pennsylvania State University, International Council, inaugural recipient of the W. LaMarr Kopp International Achievement Award ($1,000) "for significant contributions and accomplishments in advancing the international mission of the University," 1995.

Pennsylvania State University, College of the Liberal Arts,  Distinction in the Humanities--Class of 1933 Award ($1,000), 1995.

professional honors based on elections

Member, Board of Directors, West African Research Association, 1995-99.

Chair, Association of African Studies Programs, 1991-93.

Chair, French Literature Outside of Europe Division, Modern Language Association, 1982.

President, African Literature Association, 1981-82.

Chair, African Literatures Division, Modern Language Association, 1977.

languages

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

memberships

American Association of Teachers of French
American Comparative Literature Association
Modern Language Association of America
Groupe de Recherches en Afrique Francophone
African Studies Association
African Literature Association (a founder and past president)
Société des Africanistes (French association of African Studies scholars)
West African Research Association
Mandé Studies Association