Dr. Catherine Adams

Biography

For two decades, Dr. Adams worked in student affairs, institutional diversity, and academic affairs at selective Women's Colleges, Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). At Claflin, she teaches courses related to African and African American culture, literary, and oral traditions.

Education

B.A. in English, Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, NC

M.A. in African-American Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Ph.D. in Afro-American Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA

Research Interests

Dr. Adams’ research interests include African American oral history narration; nineteenth-twentieth-, and twenty-first-century Africana literary history; migration, nationalism, and transnationalism narratives; Africana-based pedagogy and curriculum development; Africana science fiction, speculative fiction, and Afro-futurism; life and literary works of Frank G. Yerby; as well as freedom movements and maroonage.

Recent Publications

Dr. Adams’ recent publications on Africana literary pedagogy include a chapter in Rediscovering Frank Yerby: Critical Essays, edited by Matthew Teutsch, and a chapter in Diversity Matters: The Color, Shape, and Tone of Twenty-First-Century Diversity, edited by Emily Allen Williams. She is currently working on a book project exploring African-descended cultural formations in the African American literary tradition. Her work is informed by travel to places like Ghana, Egypt, Haiti, Jamaica, Brazil, and South Africa.