Michelle G. Decker
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Comparative Literature
The Pennsylvania State University
Education
2009–May 2014
2009
2006
Ph.D. Candidate, Comparative Literature (English minor). Pennsylvania State
University
M.A., Comparative Literature. Pennsylvania State University
B.A., summa cum laude, Comparative Literature. Pennsylvania State University
Languages: Kiswahili, Arabic (Modern Standard and Egyptian dialect), Spanish (reading)
Dissertation
Genre, Geography, and the Making of “Africa”
Committee: Eric Hayot (chair), Gabeba Baderoon, Jonathan Eburne, Nergis Ertürk, Christopher Reed
Publications
“The ‘Autobiography’ of Tippu Tip: Genre, Geography, and the African Indian Ocean,” forthcoming in
Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies.
“Aimé Césaire,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, forthcoming in 2014.
“Négritude,” Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, forthcoming in 2014.
“Poetic Proverbs, African Advocacy, and Melvin B. Tolson,” Conversation/Conversion: The Comparative
Humanities Review 1.1 (Fall 2006): 6–12.
Conference presentations and invited talks
“The ‘Autobiography’ of Tippu Tip: Genre, Geography, and the African Indian Ocean,” Centre for Indian
Studies at The University of the Witwatersrand, July 22, 2013.
“How to Read Literature via a Nineteenth Century Kiswahili Poem,” American Comparative Literature
Assoc., 2013.
“African Interiors: The Autobiography of Tippu Tip,” American Comparative Literature Association, 2012.
“The African 1980s,” American Comparative Literature Association, ACL(x) session, 2012.
“Thinking beyond the Region,” Penn State Comparative Literature Luncheon, Panel Discussion, 2012.
“Functional Literature: ‘Al-Inkishafi’ and African Ruins,” African Literature Association, 2012.
“Bloomsbury’s South Africans,” Modernist Studies Association, 2009.
“Slavery, Memory, and the Middle Space,” American Comparative Literature Association, 2008.
Teaching
Introduction to African Literatures: Self-designed survey course of oral, written, and visual
literatures (translated into English) from all reaches of the continent and many of its languages (Arabic,
English, French, German, Kiswahili, and Portuguese). Taught twice with modified syllabus, which included
such works as Season of Migration to the North, Things Fall Apart, Waiting for the Barbarians, Bamako, and the
Kiswahili poetry of Shaaban Robert.
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Introduction to Kiswahili: First-level Kiswahili language and culture course, taught using traditional
pedagogical approaches, as well as online and audio modules in the target language. Taught twice using
McGrath and Martin’s Colloquial Swahili with supplemental materials from Hinnebusch and Mirza’s Swahili,
A Foundation for Speaking, Reading, and Writing.
Introduction to World Literatures: (Online course) A survey course of “world literatures,” taught
through the lens of texts’ places of origin, forms, themes, and processes of dissemination. Taught twice
using the Longman Anthology of World Literature, with texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, excerpts from the
Bhagavad Gita, the poetry of Ghalib, and the letters of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Human Rights and World Literature: An entry-level course designed to introduce students to human
rights via the declarations, legal texts, and manifestos that helped shape them, and the fictional texts that
represented and questioned their violations. Taught once with a syllabus that included Murambi, The Book of
Bones; Maus; Kiss of the Spider Woman; and I’jaam, An Iraqi Rhapsody. This course also included several upperlevel students who took the class to satisfy International Studies requirements. Syllabus modifications for
these students included supplemental theoretical readings and a research-paper requirement.
Literary Humor: A survey course dealing with the nature of comedy and humor in literature.
Through discussion and writing, the course provided students with the opportunity to discuss both the
widespread, or even universal, aspects of literary humor, and the diversity of literary humor across cultures
and time periods. Taught once with a syllabus that included Bamboozled; Lysistrata; I Am a Cat; and the Sufi
proverbs of Mulla Nasrudin.
Race, Gender, and Identity in World Literature: A lower-level course I designed to present questions
of human constructions of “otherness” via an oceanic perspective. The foundational question of this course
asked how the oceans allowed (and still present) a different kind of understanding of difference. Taught
once using a syllabus that included Sea of Poppies, Frankenstein, the stories of Edogawa Rampo, the music of
Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, and the poetry of Charles Baudelaire.
Grants, honors, and awards
2013
2013
2012
2012
2011
2011
2011
2010
2006
2006
2006
2006
2005
Liberal Arts Superior Teaching and Research (STAR) Award
Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award (University-wide award)
Africana Research Center Humanities Dissertation Fellow (PSU)
Erasmus Award (Department teaching award)
Institute for the Arts and Humanities Summer Residency Fellowship (PSU)
Erasmus Award
Graduate Research Exhibition, 3rd place winner in the Arts & Humanities (PSU)
Critical Language Scholarship for Arabic, U.S. Department of State
Samuel P. Bayard Award for Excellence in Comparative Literature (PSU)
Phi Beta Kappa
Evan Pugh Scholar Award
Commencement Marshal, Department of Comparative Literature
Africana Research Center Scholar
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Professional Service
2012–
2011–2012
2007–
2008–2009
2008–
2006–2008
Graduate Student Delegate, Department of Comparative Literature Graduate Committee
Graduate Student Delegate, MLA Nominating Committee
Board Member, Phi Beta Kappa, Lambda Chapter
President, International Languages and Literatures Graduate Organization (Dept. grad
organization)
Travel Committee, Department of Comparative Literature
Editorial Assistant, Comparative Literature Studies
Contact
457 Burrowes Building
University Park, PA 16802
Tel. 814-863-9816 • Fax 814-863-8882 • Email: mdecker@psu.edu
References
Eric Hayot
Penn State University
University Park, PA
814.865.1188
ehayot@psu.edu
Last updated: March 3, 2016
Gabeba Baderoon
Penn State University
University Park, PA
814.865.2372
baderoon@psu.edu
Jonathan Eburne
Penn State University
University Park, PA
814.863.0968
jpe11@psu.edu