Kalenda Eaton
Assistant Professor of English
Joined Arcadia: August 2010
eatonk@arcadia.edu
Research Interests
My areas of research are 20th Century African American Literary History, Global Black Studies, Women’s Studies, and Literary Theory. My first book Womanism, Literature, and the Transformation of the Black Community, 1965-1980 (Routledge, 2008) examines Black female activism represented in post-Civil Rights literature. The chapters explore novels (by select Black women writers) critical of revolutionary rhetoric, the rise of the new Black middle class, postcolonial politics in the face of Black consciousness, and emotional dis/ease in the midst of revolution. In my research on Diasporic black identities, I focus on cultural history, racial and gender identity. I have published and lectured on topics spanning literatures of the African Diaspora; Black Citizenship Narratives; Global Black Feminism; and African American Migration. Currently, I am working on a book project which examines historical fiction documenting the relocation of African Americans from the American south to the western United States. I am interested in how contemporary women writers re-image citizenship, fluctuating social identities, and racial politics during 1890-1930.
Professional Experience
Prior to joining the faculty at Arcadia, I held tenure-track faculty positions in English Departments at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia; University of Nebraska-Lincoln (joint-appointment in Ethnic Studies); and Barry University in Miami, Florida. At Barry, I was also the Director of the Africana Studies Program, an academic minor and cultural arts program highlighting the experiences of people of African descent worldwide. I was also coordinator of African American Studies at Armstrong during the 2009-2010 academic year.
My international experience includes world travel, study abroad in Spain as an undergraduate, academic presentations at international conferences in Western Europe and the Caribbean, as well as originating academic travel courses on postcolonial literature in Ghana and cultural preservation among the Garinagu of southeastern Belize.
Education
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ph.D. (English) 2004
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, M.A (English) 2001
- Dillard University, New Orleans, B.A. (English, second major Spanish)
Selected Publications
- Book Chapter: Eaton, Kalenda. “You have to know way too much?:” Teaching Ishmael Reed in the University Classroom.” On the Aesthetic Legacy of Ishmael Reed: Contemporary Reassessments. Eds. Paul Tayyar and Samuel Ludwig. Huntington Beach: World Parade Books, 2012.
- Book: Eaton, Kalenda. Womanism, Literature, and the Transformation of the Black Community, 1965-1980. New York: Routledge. 2008.
- Article: Eaton, Kalenda. “The More Things Stay the Same: African American Literature and the Politics of Responsibility.” Literature Compass 3/4 (2006): 676-688.
Selected Presentations
- “What Happens to Africana Studies If You Put Black Women’s Studies at the Center?” Roundtable. National Women’s Studies Association Conference. Atlanta, GA. November 10-13, 2011.
- “Somewhere a place for us:” The Afro-Diasporic Quest for Sanctuary in Western Canada.” 35th Annual National Council for Black Studies Conference. Cincinnati, Ohio. March 16-19, 2011.
- “GPS Signal Lost: Locating Tales of African American Leisure Travel in the United States, 1880-1900.” Arcadia University Faculty Forum 2011. Arcadia University, Glenside, Pennsylvania. February 9, 2011.
- “An Act of Sedition?: Examining Richard Wright, the Federal Writer’s Project and 12 Million Black Voices.” Part III of the NEH funded Soul of A People: Writing America’s Story Program Series. Armstrong Center, Savannah, Georgia. October 14, 2009.
- “Moving Pictures with Sound: Diaspora, Spirituality, and Language in Helen Oyeyemi's The Opposite House and Erna Brodber's Louisiana.” The Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars Annual Conference, St. George’s, Grenada. May 19-23, 2008.
