Scholarly Publications
Books
In his 2018 Pratt Lecture, The Quest for a ‘National’ Nationalism, George Elliott Clarke studies E. J. Pratt’s attempt to become the epic poet of Canada. And while Pratt’s epic poems, such as Brebeuf and His Brethren and Towards the Last Spike, are lofty poetic achievements, the poet is never able to escape his own identity and speak convincingly for all Canadians. Unable to speak for Francophones, Indigenous peoples, and People of Colour, Pratt becomes the epic poet of the establishment, but never truly of the people. 2021.
In Locating Home: The First African-Canadian Novel and Verse Collections, George Elliott Clarke — the pioneering scholar of African-Canadian literature — anthologizes the field’s first collections of poetry and the first novel. Clarke’s powerful introduction illuminates the historical, cultural, and political significance of these groundbreaking works for contemporary readers of Black Canadian authors. 2018.
Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature is a pioneering study of African-Canadian literary creativity, laying the groundwork for future scholarly work in the field. George Elliott Clarke identifies African-Canadian literature's distinguishing characteristics, argues for its relevance to both African Diasporic Black and Canadian Studies, and critiques several of its key creators and texts. 2002.
The latest work from pioneering scholar George Elliott Clarke, Directions Home is the most comprehensive analysis of African-Canadian texts and writers to date. Building on the discoveries of his critically acclaimed Odysseys Home, Clarke passionately analyses the beautiful complexities and haunting conundrums of this important body of literature. 2012.
Mixing prose, poetry, and drama, and including the work of established writers and new voices, writing in English as well as French (in translation here), Eyeing the North Star is a varied and vibrant overview of the recent evolution of African-Canadian Literature. 1997.
Award-winning poet and scholar, George Elliott Clarke edits this pioneer collection of passionate, spiritual, earthy and liberating prose, poetry and song.
Border Lines - co-edited by Clarke - presents the writing of 68 important new, or increasingly appreciated, poets from around the English-speaking world. Coming from Canada, Africa, the Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, these men and women write out of a variety of social and cultural backgrounds and literary and oral traditions. 1995.
Refereed Articles
What a (Non-) Difference a Half-Century Makes: Juxtaposing the African-Canadian Verse Anthologies of 1973 and 2022.” [Forthcoming from Edward Elgar Publishing, ed. Sneja Gunew.]
“Coloured ‘Extras’ & Spotlit Whites: Spectating ‘Race’ in Slings & Arrows.” [Forthcoming in vol. eds. Don Moore & Kailin Wright, University of Toronto Press.]
“Is ‘Historiographic Ethnofiction’ Perpetually Tripped Up By Facts? Spy Invisible Blackness in Ondaatje’s Slaughter; Audit Muted History in Edugyan’s Half-Blood Blues.” Land Deep In Time: Canadian Historiographic Ethnofiction. Eds. Weronika Suchaka and Hartmut Lutz. Gottingen, Germany: Brill—Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht Unipress, 2023. 293-306.
“Assembling the Afro-Métis Syllabus: Some Preliminary Reading.” Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien. 2022.
“Alice Munro’s Black Bottom; or Black Tints and Euro Hints in Lives of Girls and Women.” In Alice Munro Country: Essays on Her Works I. Ed. J.R. Tim Struthers. Oakville (ON): Guernica Editions, 2020. 207-235. Reprint.
“Ian Fleming’s Canadian Cities.” Literature and the Glocal City: Reshaping the English Canadian Imaginary.” Ed. Ana Maria Fraile-Marcos. New York: Routledge, 2014. 160-181. Rpt. Paperback. New York: Routledge, 2020.
“On Pamela Mordecai’s ‘Passion Plays’: A Plea for Their Performance.” Studies in Canadian Literature. 44.1. 2019. 5-29.
“The Constitution as Muse? Four Poets Respond (Tacitly) to the World-View of The British North America Act (1867).” Review of Constitutional Studies/Revue d’études constitutionnelles 22.3 (2018): 289-324.
“Why Not an ‘African-Canadian’ Epic? Lessons from Pratt and Walcott.” In Comparative Literature for the New Century, eds. Giulia de Gasperi and Joseph Pivato, 117-152. Kingston (ON) & Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018.
“The Holocaust Witness as Absurdist: J.J. Steinfeld’s Ironic Ire.” J.J. Steinfeld: Essays on His Works. Ed. Sandra Singer. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2017. 221-239.
“Toward Establishing an—or the—“Archive” of African Canadian Literature.” Editing as Cultural Practice in Canada. Eds. Dean Irvine and Smaro Kamboureli. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2016. 41-56.
“White Judges, Black Hoods: Hanging-as-Lynching in Three Canadian True-Crime Texts.” Canadian Law Library Review. 41.2 (2016): 10-19.
“Jazzing Up Opera: A Defence of Québécité.” Opera in a Multicultural World: Coloniality, Culture, Performance. Eds. Mary I. Ingraham, Joseph K. So, and Roy Moodley. London: Routledge, 2015. 193-212.
“Alice Munro’s Black Bottom; or Black Tints and Euro Hints in Lives of Girls and Women.” In Alice Munro: Reminiscence, Interpretation, Adaptation, and Comparison. Eds. Buchholtz Mirosława and Eugenia Sojka. Frankfurt, Berlin: Peter Lang Verlag, 2015. 147-71.
“An Anatomy of the Originality of African-Canadian Thought.” THE CLR JAMES JOURNAL 20:1–2, Fall 2014 : 65-82.
“Ian Fleming’s Canadian Cities.” Literature and the Glocal City: Reshaping the English Canadian Imaginary. Ed. Ana Maria Fraile-Marcos. New York: Routledge, 2014. 160-181.
“On Selecting Irving Layton’s Seductive Invective; or, an Addendum to Trehearne.” English Studies in Canada. 38.2. June 2012 [2013]. 103-36.
“Bring Da Noise: The Poetics of Performance, chez d’bi young and Oni Joseph.” Listening Up, Writing Down, and Looking Beyond! Eds. Susan Gingell and Wendy Roy. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2012. 53-76.
“For a Multicultural, Multi-Faith, Multiracial Canada: A Manifesto.” Unsettling Multiculturalism: Lands, Labours, Bodies. Eds. May Chazan, Lisa Helps, Anna Stanley, Sonali Thakkar. Toronto: Between the Lines. 2011. 51-57.
“Sounding John Thompson’s White Noise.” Studies in Canadian Literature. 36.2. 2011. 5-31.
“Halifax, Hiroshima, and the Romance of Disaster.” Shaping an Agenda for Atlantic Canada. Eds. John G. Reid & Donald J. Savoie. Halifax: Fernwood Press, 2011. 83-103.
“‘Symposia’ in the Drama of Trey Anthony and Louise Delisle.” Theatre Research in Canada. Ed. Ric Knowles. 3o.1-2 (2009): 1-16.
“Strategies for Legitimizing Difference: Mixed-Race Resistance in the Works of Andrea Thompson and Lorena Gale, Two African-Canadian Writers.” Canada: Images of a Post/National Society. Eds. Gunilla Florby, Mark Shackleton, and Katri Suhonen. Bruxelles: Peter Lang, 2009. 259-275.
“‘How White Are Your Whites?’: A Response to Daniel Coleman’s White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada.” International Journal of Canadian Studies. 38 (2008): 208-220.
“Repatriating Arthur Nortje.” Canadian Cultural Exchange: Translation and Transculturation. Eds. Norman Cheadle and Lucien Pelletier. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University, 2007. 121-138.
“Anna Minerva Henderson: An Afro-New Brunswick Response to Canadian (Modernist) Poetry.” Canadian Literature. 189 (Summer 2006): 32-48.
“Does (Afro-) Caribbean-Canadian Literature Exist? In the Caribbean?” Journal of West Indian Literature. 14.1-2 (November 2005 [June 2006]): 260-302.
“Towards a Pedagogy of African-Canadian Literature.” Moveable Margins: The Shifting Spaces of Canadian Literature. Ed. Chelva Kanaganayakam. Toronto: TSAR, 2005. 47-64.
"Must All Blackness Be American?: Locating Canada in Borden's 'Tightrope Time', or Nationalizing Gilroy's The Black Atlantic." Canadian Ethnic Studies. 28.3 (1996): 56-71. Reprinted in African-Canadian Theatre: Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English, Volume Two. Ed. Maureen Moynagh. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2005. 11-28.
“’This is no hearsay’: Reading the Canadian Slave Narratives.” Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada. 43.1 (Spring 2005): 7-32.
“Raising Raced and Erased Executions in African-Canadian Literature: Or, Unearthing Angélique.” Essays on Canadian Writing. 75 (Winter 2002): 30-61. Reprinted in Racism, Eh? A Critical Inter-Disciplinary Anthology on Race in the Canadian Context. Eds. Camille A. Nelson and Charmaine A. Nelson. North York, ON: Captus Press, 2004. 65-84.
“Raising Raced and Erased Executions in African-Canadian Literature: Or, Unearthing Angélique.” Essays on Canadian Writing. 75 (Winter 2002): 30-61.
“Canadian Biraciality and Its “Zebra” Poetics”. Intertexts. 6.2 (Fall 2002): 203-231.
“Embracing Beatrice Chancy, or In Defence of Poetry.” The New Quarterly. XX.3 (Fall/Winter 2000-2001): 14-24.
“Harris, Phillip, Brand: Three Authors in Search of Literate Criticism.” Journal of Canadian Studies. 35.1 (Spring 2000): 161-189.
"Racing Shelley, or Reading The Cenci as a Gothic Slave Narrative." European Romantic Review. 11.2 (Spring 2000): 168-185.
"Reading Ward's 'Blind Man's Blues.'" Arc. 44 (Summer 2000): 50-52.
"Liberalism and Its Discontents: Reading Black and White in Contemporary Québécois Texts." (Reprint of article first published in the Journal of Canadian Studies, 31.3 [Autumn 1996]: 59-77.) In Literary Pluralities, ed. Christl Verdun. Toronto: Broadview Press, 1998. 193-210.
"Cool Politics: Styles of Honour in Malcolm X and Miles Davis." Jouvert: A Journal of Post-Colonial Studies. 1.2 (1998): http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert
"Contesting a Model Blackness: A Meditation on African-Canadian African Americanism, or The Structures of African-Canadianité." Essays on Canadian Writing. 63 (Spring 1998): 1-55.
"Towards a Conservative Modernity: Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Acadian and Africadian Poetry." [Reprint of article first published in the Revue Frontenac / Frontenac Review, 9 (1992): 45-63.] In Cultural Identities in Canadian Literature /Identités culturelles dans la littérature canadienne, ed. Bénédicte Mauguière. New York: Peter Lang, 1998. 49-63.
"Must We Burn Haliburton?" In The Haliburton Bi-centenary Chaplet: Papers Presented at the 1996 Thomas Raddall Symposium. Ed. Richard A. Davies. Wolfville NS: Gaspereau Press, 1997. 1-40.
"Africana Canadiana: A Primary Bibliography of Literature by African-Canadian Authors, 1785-1996, in English, French, and Translation." Canadian Ethnic Studies. 28.3 (1996): 106-209.
"Must All Blackness Be American?: Locating Canada in Borden's 'Tightrope Time', or Nationalizing Gilroy's The Black Atlantic." Canadian Ethnic Studies. 28.3 (1996): 56-71.
"Clarke vs. Clarke: Tory Elitism in Austin Clarke's Short Fiction." West Coast Line: A Journal of Contemporary Writing and Criticism. [Vancouver] 22 (31/1; Spring/Summer 1997): 110-128.
"The Birth and Rebirth of Africadian Literature." In Down East: Critical Essays on Contemporary Maritime Canadian Literature. Eds. Wolfgang Hochbruck (Universität Stuttgart) and James Taylor (St. Francis Xavier University). Stuttgart: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 1997. 55-80.
"Liberalism and Its Discontents: Reading Black and White in Contemporary Québécois Texts." Journal of Canadian Studies. 31.3 (Autumn 1996): 59-77.
"The Road to North Hatley: Ralph Gustafson's Post-Colonial Paradox." Journal of Eastern Townships. 9 (Fall/Autumn 1996): 21-42.
"White Niggers, Black Slaves: Slavery, Race and Class in T. C. Haliburton's The Clockmaker." Nova Scotia Historical Review. 14. 1 (June 1994): 13-40.
"Towards a Conservative Modernity: Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Acadian and Africadian Poetry." Revue Frontenac / Frontenac Review. 9 (1992): 45-63.
"Michael Ondaatje and the Production of Myth." Studies in Canadian Literature. 16.1 (1991): 1-21.
"The Career of Black English: A Literary Sketch." In The English Language in Nova Scotia. Eds. Lilian Falk and Margaret Harry. Lockeport NS: Roseway Publishing, 1999. 125-145.
Non-Refereed Articles
“A Tombstone, Not a Foundation.” Re: Robin Winks’ The Blacks in Canada: A History (1971, 1997). Yale Canadian Studies. [Forthcoming]
“Approaching ‘Hammertown’; or, Discovering George & Rue.” Officers’ Quarterly. Black History Special Edition. 38 (2021): 40-44.
“On the Spirituals of Funk, the Gospel of Soul, the House of Blues, the Swing of Ragtime, the Jazz of Rap: The Backbeat of Freedom and/or the Rhythm of Love.” Freedom Cabaret: Spirit and Legacy of Black Music. Cur. Beau Dixon. The Stratford Festival. (August 19-September 5, 2021.) Program notes. pp. 11-15. https://cdscloud.stratfordfestival.ca/uploadedFiles/2021_HP_CB4_New.pdf
“What Spines to Crack, What Leaves to Thumb! On Uncovering Black North Atlantic History, from Cover to Cover.” Introduction. Black Atlantic Canadian History: A Bibliography. Eds. Donald Wright and Suzanne Morton. Acadiensis. 50.1 (Spring 2021): 220-222.
“Bring Malcolm X Down Home, to Canada—and to Nova Scotia.” Afrikan Wisdom: New Voices Talk Black Liberation, Buddhism, and Beyond. Ed. Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2021. 165-171.
“Finding Beatrice Chancy: Excursions and Incursions.” When Words Sing: Seven Canadian Libretti. Ed. Julie Salverson. Toronto: Canada Playwrights Press, 2021. 16-19.
“Blacks in Canada: The History of a Dismissal.” Introduction. Blacks in Canada: A History. By Robin Winks. Fiftieth Anniversary Edition. [i.e., 3rd Edition.] Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021. ix-xxii.
“Yet Another Effort, Canadians, If Ya Wanna Effectively Decolonize.” Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien. 41 (2021): 181-185.
“A Note—Imagining an Africa That Never Was: The Anti-Racist / Anti-Imperialist Fantasy of Charles R. Saunders’ Imaro and Its Basis in the Africentric Occult.” Canadian Literature. 240. 2020. 97-105.
“Remembering Charles Saunders (1946-2020).” Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute. Halifax (NS). Posted: March 16, 2021. https://dbdli.ca/2021/03/16/remembering-charles-saunders/
“On George Elroy Boyd: Or, Reading plays as social work(s).” Connection. 3.2 (Fall 2020): 25-27. https://issuu.com/nscsw/docs/connection_fall_202020_webfinal?mc_cid=3b
Foreword. I Am Still Your Negro: An Homage to James Baldwin. By Valerie Jane Mason-John (a.k.a. Queenie). Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2020. IX-XI.
“Homage to Queen Val: Poems by Valerie Mason-John.” Laureate’s Pick. Exile. 43.3 (2020): 74.
“Whoville?: Make-believe residents of a displaced community.” Review of Africville: A Novel by Jeffrey Colvin. Literary Review of Canada. 28.1 (January-February 2020): 34. https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2020/01/whoville/
“Mary Shelley’s Tempest.” Introduction. Squall: Poems in the Voice of Mary Shelley. By Chad Norman. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2020. xi-xiv.
“Solar Florals: Giovanna Riccio’s Elegiac Verses.” Exile. 42.3 (2019): 98-99.
“Coming to Terms….” Global Brief. 23 (Fall/Winter 2019): 64.
“Ten African-Canadian Plays to Watch (Catch) Thus Far This Century.” In “Focus on English-Canadian Drama in the New Millennium.” Eds. Albert Rau and Martin Kuester. Anglistic. 30.1 (2019). 47-57. https://angl.winter-verlag.de/issue/ANGL/2019/1.
“Reading Rienzi Crusz: An Elegy.” The New Quarterly. 148 (Fall 2018): 65-74.
“The Voices of African Canada: A Foreword.” African American Review. 51.3 (Fall 2018): 1-6.
“Re: ‘The “C” Word,’ by Andy Lamey (July-August 2018).” Literary Review of Canada. 26.8 (October 2018): 29-30.
“Toward Establishing an—or the—“Archive” of African Canadian Literature.” Editing as Cultural Practice in Canada. Reprint, revised. Locating Home: The First African-Canadian Novel and Verse Collections. Ed. George Elliott Clarke. Toronto: Tightrope Books, 2017. 9-32. Originally published in Editing as Cultural Practice in Canada. Eds. Dean Irvine and Smaro Kamboureli. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2016. 41-56.
“Frederick Ward: Writing As Jazz.” Reprint. 2005 Anne Szumigalski Lecture. Measures of Astonishment: Poets on Poetry. Ed. League of Canadian Poets. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2016. 33-67.
“Reading the ‘Africville Novel,’ or Displacing ‘Race.’” Cultural Challenges of Migration in Canada / Les défis de la migration au Canada. Eds. Klaus-Dieter Ertler & Patrick Imbert. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2013. 439-452.
“Sighting the Giallo in Ho Che Anderson’s Graphic Texts.” Transformations of the Canadian Cultural Mosaic. Eds. Anna Pia De Luca and Deborah Saidero. Udine, IT: Centro di Cultura Canadese, Università degli Studi di Udine, 2012. 63-81.
“McFarlane’s ‘Evidence’: Racism Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry.” Canadian Literature. 213 (Summer 2012):
“Reading ‘Canon’ Scott’s Canon.” Leaving the Shade of the Middle Ground: The Poetry of F.R. Scott. Ed. Laura Moss. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2011. 61-68.
“Let Us Compare Anthologies: Harmonizing the Founding African-Canadian and Italian-Canadian Literary Collections.” Pier Giorgio Di Cicco: Essays on His Works. Ed. Joseph Pivato. Toronto: Guernica, 2011. 121-152.
“Canada: The Invisible Empire?” The Canadian Mosaic in the Age of Transnationalism. Eds. Jutta Ernst and Brigitte Glaser. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag, 2010. 19-35.
“Europa w literaturze afrokanadyjskiej.” [“The Idea of Europe in African-Canadian Literature.”] Pantswo Narod Tozsamosc w Dyskursach Kulturowych Kanady. Eds. Eugenia Sojka and Miroslawa Buchholtz. Krakow, Poland: Universitas, 2010. 228-256.
“Afro-Gynocentric Darwinism in the Drama of George Elroy Boyd.” Theatre in Atlantic Canada: Critical Perspectives in Canadian Theatre in English. Vol. 16. Ed. Linda Burnett. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2010. 121-134.
“Towards a Pedagogy of African-Canadian Literature.” Shared Waters: Soundings in Postcolonial Literatures. [Cross/Cultures #118] Ed. Stella Borg Barthet. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009. 363-391.
“Is black just another hue of re-white-and-blue? Or, reading Africana: The Americanization of Africa and its diapora.” At Home in the World: Essays and Poems in Honour of Britta Olinder. Eds. Chloé Avril and Ronald Paul. Gothenburg, Sweden: University of Gothenberg, 2008. 37-50.
“The Idea of Europe in African-Canadian Literature.” Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien. Ed. Martin Kuenster. 26.2 (2006): 39-60. Augsberg, Germany: Wisser-Verlag, 2006.
“Let Us Compare Anthologies: Harmonizing the Founding African-Canadian and Italian-Canadian Literary Collections.” Belonging in Canada: Immigration and the Politics of Race and Ethnicity. Proceedings from the 19th Annual Reddin Symposium. Ed. Mark Kasoff. Bowling Green, OH: Canadian Studies Center, Bowling Green State University, 2006. 37-57.
“Frederick Ward: Writing As Jazz.” Prairie Fire. 26.4 (Winter, 2005-06): 4-31.
“Writing the Pax Canadiana: Terror Abroad, Torture at Home.” Building Liberty: Canada and World Peace, 1945-2005. Eds. Conny Steenman-Marcusse and Aritha van Herk. Groningen, NL: Barkhuis Publishing, 2005. 213-36.
“Anne Szumigalski and Eli Mandel: Two Blakean Poets.” The 2004 Caroline Heath Memorial Lecture. Freelance. [Saskatchewan Writers Guild newsletter] 34.4 (January/February 2005): 5-7, & 34.5 (March/April 2005): 6-9.
“Correspondences and Divergences Between Italian-Canadian and African-Canadian Writers.” Canadian Multiculturalism: Dreams, Realities, Expectations. Eds. Matthew Zachariah, Allan Sheppard, Leona Barratt. Edmonton AB: Canadian Multicultural Education Foundation, 2004. 99-108. [Conference Proceedings. “Canada: Model for a Multicultural State Conference, Edmonton, AB, September 27, 2003.”]
“Afro-Gynocentric Darwinism in the Drama of George Elroy Boyd.” Canadian Theatre Review. 118 (Spring 2004): 77-84.
“Gospel as Protest: The African-Nova Scotia Spiritual and the Lyrics of Delvina Bernard.” Rebel Musics: Human Rights, Resistant Sounds, and the Politics of Music Making. Eds. Daniel Fischlin and Ajay Heble. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 2003. 108-19.
“What Was Canada?” Is Canada Postcolonial?: Unsettling Canadian Literature. Ed. Laura Moss. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2003. 27-39.
"Race and Racism in Canadian Literature." Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. Ed. W.H. New. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. 922-926.
“George Elliott Clarke to Derek Walcott: ‘I write in a cold place.’” Open Letter. 11.3 (Fall 2001): 15-17.
“The Aesthetics of Justice.” Convocation Address at the University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, May 19, 2000. The Gaspereau Review. 16 (Summer 2001): 9-14.
“Philly Talks #18: A Conversation Among C.S. Giscombe, Barry McKinnon, Wayde Compton, Giovanni Singleton, and George Elliott Clarke.” Ed. Louis Cabri. February 2, 2001.
“An Open Letter to Derek Walcott.” The Strand. [Toronto, ON] 43.9 (January 31, 2001): 6.
“Opera in Canada: A Conversation.” With Linda Hutcheon. Interview by Christl Verduyn. Journal of Canadian Studies. 35.3 (Fall 2000): 184-198.
Treason of the Black Intellectuals? Reprint of Working Paper of the Third Annual Seagram Lecture Presented on November 4, 1998 (Montreal: McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, 1999). Ed. Corey Skinner. Oct. 2000.
Remarks. In “U.S./Canadian Writers’ Perspectives On The Multiculturalism Debate: A Round-Table Discussion at Harvard University.” Eds. Graham Huggan & Winfried Siemerling. Canadian Literature. 164 (Spring 2000): 82-111.
“African-Canadian Literature.” The Companion to African Literatures. Eds. Douglas Killam and Ruth Rowe. Oxford and Bloomington, IN: James Currey and Indiana University Press, 2000. 15-18.
"White Like Canada." Transition: An International Review. 73 (7.1, 1998): 98-109.
"A Primer of African-Canadian Literature." Kola: A Black Literary Magazine. 9.1 (1997): 26-34. Rpt. from Books in Canada. 25.2 (March 1996): 5-7.
"A Primer of African-Canadian Literature." Books in Canada. 25.2 (March 1996): 5-7.
“I was a Black Haligonian—
an Africadian—
inspired by an institution that is,
that excellent devise—a schooled insurgency.”
Clarke performing from "The Story of Dalhousie." (Danny Abriel and Nick Pearce photos.)
Journal engagements
Atlantic Studies (Routledge). 2020.
International Journal of Canadian Studies. 2019 [twice].
African American Review, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016.
American Review of Canadian Studies. 1996. 2005.
Arab Journal for the Humanities. 2006.
Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English. 2003, 2004, 2006.
BC Studies. 2010.
Callaloo. 1994, 2010 [twice], 2011, 2012.
Canadian Ethnic Studies. 2005.
Canadian Literature. 2004 [twice], 2011.
Cultural Critique. 2015.
English Studies in Canada. 1999. 2004.
Essays on Canadian Writing. 1998, 1999 [thrice], 2002 [thrice], 2003, 2004.
Journal of Canadian Studies. 1996 [twice], 1998, 2002 [twice], 2003, 2007 [thrice].
Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada. 2011.
University of Toronto Quarterly. 2005, 2008, 2017.
Guest Editor, African American Review 51.3, Special Issue on African Canadianité. Fall 2018.
Committees
University of Toronto
Shaftesbury Writer-in-Residence Committee (Victoria College). 2023-24.
English Department Advisory Committee Re: Jack McClelland Writer-in-Residence Appointments. 2023.
English Department Chair’s Advisory Committee Re: Avie Bennett Chair Appointments. 2023-24.
Shaftesbury Writer-in-Residence Committee (Victoria College). 2022-23.
2022-23 MA—CRW Admissions Committee. Spring 2022.
Shaftesbury Writer-in-Residence Committee (Victoria College). 2021-22.
2020-21 MA—CRW Admissions Committee. Spring 2020.
E.J. Pratt Poetry Competition Prize Committee, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.
Judge, Adam Penn Gilders Award, 2016.
2016-17 MA—CRW Admissions Committee. Spring 2016.
E.J. Pratt Poetry Competition Prize Committee, 2016.
Faculty Awards and Honours Committee. 2015-16.
2015-16 MA—CRW Admissions Committee. Spring 2015.
E.J. Pratt Poetry Prize Committee, 2015.
Judge, Gilders Prize, 2012
Chair, Representative Poetry Committee, 2011-2012.
Member, Probationary Review Committee, 2011. (U of T—Scarborough)
Member, Probationary Review Committee, 2011.
Chair, Representative Poetry Committee, 2010-2011.
Member, Representative Poetry Committee, 2009-2010.
Probationary Review Committee, 2008.
M.A. in Creative Writing Admissions Committee, 2008.
E.J. Pratt Poetry Prize Committee, 2005-06.
Reading (Sub) Committee of a Tenure Committee, 2006.
Canadian Literature Search Committee, 2005-2006.
E.J. Pratt Poetry Prize Committee, 2004-05 (no prize awarded).
Reading (Sub) Committee of a Tenure Committee, 2004.
Probationary Review Committee, 2004.
Writer-in-Residence Committee, 2003-04.
E.J. Pratt Poetry Prize Committee, 2003-04 (Chair).
Asian-North American Literature Search Committee. 2002-2003, 2003-2004.
Curriculum Committee. 2001-2003.
African Literature Search Committee. 2001-2002.
Creative Writing Committee. 2001-.
Duke University
Director of Undergraduate Studies Committee, 1995-1996; 1997-1998.
Graduate Admissions Committee, 1996-1998.
Graduate Placement Committee, 1996-1997.
Chair's Advisory Committee, 1996-1997.
Creative Writing Committee, 1996-1997; 1997-1998.
20th Century British Search Committee, 1996-1997.
Writer-in-residencies
Instructor, “Getting the Word(s) Out! Or How to Make Poetry Speak.” By Zoom. Hillside Festival. Guelph (ON). Thursday, November 11, 18, 25, and December 2 (2021).
“Master Class” Poetry Instructor. Wild Writers Literary Festival, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Waterloo, ON, November 2, 2019.
“Radical Writing for Social Change,” “History as a Base for Poetry & Essay,” “Music as a Poetic Toll” (with Scott Parsons): Three writing workshops, plus “Authors’ Roundtable.” Prince Edward Island Writers Guild, Wild Threads Writing Symposium, Charlottetown, PEI, August 23 and 24, 2019.
Frank Scott Poetry Day. Poetry workshop. Centre Greene, Montreal (QC), August 1, 2019.
Poetry Instructor, “Rooting Deep and Branching Out: Writing Workshop with GEC.” Island Mountain Arts. Wells (BC), July 18-21, 2019.
Poetry Instructor, “Sage Hill Writing 2019 Spring Poetry Colloquium,” Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild. St. Peter’s Abbey, Muenster (SK), May 17-31, 2019.
Instructor, Poetry Workshop, Blue Flamingo Literary Festival, University of the Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas, March 23, 2019.
Leader, Young Writers’ Workshop. Restorative Inquiry for the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children. Delmore “Buddy” Daye Africentric Learning Institute, Halifax, NS, March 16, 2019.
Poetry Writing Workshop, presented by Northwords. Yellowknife Public Library Meeting Room, Yellowknife (NT), December 9, 2017.
Workshop: Taking Your Poetry to the Next Level. Northern Lights Writers’ Conference. Yukon College, Whitehorse, Yukon, January 21, 2017.
Dnevi poezije in vina 2016. [Days of Poetry and Wine 2016.] Translation Workshops with Miljana Cunta, Stanka Hrastelj, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, Gorazd Kocijancic, Pierre Nepveu, and Giovanna Riccio. Brenholc Guesthouse, Jeruzalem, Slovenia, August 21-23, 2016.
Poetry Workshop, Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, Mahone Bay Community Centre, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, August 6, 2014.
Poetry Workshop, Harvard Arts First Festival, Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 30, 2014.
Faculty member, Spoken Word Program, The Banff Center, Banff, Alberta, April 3-7, 2014.
Leader, Creative Writing Workshop, North Hills Museum, Annapolis Royal, NS, June 11-13, 2010.
Leader, Poetry Workshop, Sage Hill Writing Experience. St. Michael’s Retreat, Lumsden, SK, July 25-August 5, 2004.
Instructor, Booming Ground Writing Workshop, University of British Columbia, Department of Creative Writing. Green College, Vancouver, BC, July 11-17, 2004.
Poetry Workshop Leader, The Community of Writers, Wild Iris Enterprises, Atlantic Christian Training Centre, Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, July 20-25, 2003.
Instructor, Young Writers Workshop, Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, July 6-11, 2003.
Instructor, The Taddle Creek Summer Writers’ Workshop, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (Toronto, Ontario), June 28-July 1, 2002.
Participant, Multicultural Arts for Schools and Communities (Ottawa, Ontario), 1991-1994.
Participant, Writers-In-Electronic-Residence, Writers' Development Trust, Toronto, Ontario, January-June 1993.
Writer-In-Residence, Labrador Arts Festival, November 1992.
Writer-In-Residence, Selkirk College (Castlegar, British Columbia), November 1991.
Writer-In-Residence, Saint Mary's University (Halifax, Nova Scotia), March 1990.
Conference Papers
“Notations on Significant Descendants of Emile Zola’s “J’Accuse…!” With Ms. Titilola Aiyegbusi. Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences: Sustaining Shared Futures. Canadian Comparative Literature Association. Panel: Cancel Culture. Université de Montréal, Montréal (QC), June 15, 2024. (GEC attended by Zoom.)
“A Guide to the (Primary) Literary Artifacts in the Nova Scotia Slavery Museum.” Slavery, Reparations and Education: African Nova Scotia, Canada and Beyond: Universities Studying Slavery Conference. Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 21, 2023.
“On ‘Silencing’ as Affective Censorship and ‘Cancellation’ as Repressive Empathy.” Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences: Reckonings & Re-Imaginings. Canadian Comparative Literature Association. Panel: Rhetoric of Trauma. York University, Toronto (ON), May 30, 2023.
“For Cryin Out Loud: Moanin Sorrow and and Talkin Regret in Ezra Pound’s The Pisan Cantos and M. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong!” Presented at the 134th Annual Modern Languages Association Convention, Session 580, “Sweet Home Chicago? Rethinking Blues literature,” at Chicago, Illinois, on January 5, 2019.
“Juxtaposing Ho Che Anderson’s Italian References and Quentin Tarantino’s Blaxploitation Interests, or the Intertext as Miscegenation.” Black Canadian Studies Association Conference. Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, May 26, 2013.
Irving Layton Symposium Roundtable: “Some Little Anthologized Poems that Deserve Greater Anthologization; or, Towards an Expansion of Fornalutx.” Department of English, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, May 5, 2013.
“Three Africville Novels: A Discourse on Race and Place.” Cultural Challenges of Migration in Canada. International Council for Canadian Studies, Carlton University, Ottawa, Ontario, May 24, 2012.
“Ian Fleming’s Canadian Cities, and their Roles in International Espionage in the Bond Novels.” The Glocal City in Canadian Literature. Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain, June 7, 2011.
“Reading the Giallo in African-Canadian Literature.” The Canadian Cultural Mosaic as Metaphor: Representations and Transformations of Literary, Musical, Visual, and Decorative Art Forms in Canada. Universita degli Studi di Udine, Centro di Cultura Canadese, Udine, Italy, April 28, 2011.
“My Trudeau: The Politics of adapting a Political Icon for the Operatic Stage.” Voice & Vision: Situating Canadian Culture Globally. L’Institut du Monde Anglophone, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France, May 22, 2008.
“Toward a Multicultural and Multiracial Canada: A Manifesto.” From Multicultural Rhetoric to Anti-Racist Action. Munk Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, October 27, 2007.
“Trudeaumania as a Displacement of Revolutionary Consciousness in 1968 Canada.” The Sixties and the Shaping of Global Consciousness. Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, June 13, 2007.
“Speaking for Myself: The Device of ‘The Symposium’ in the Drama of Trey Anthony and Louise Delisle.” The Third Triennial AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival. University College, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, August 23, 2006.
“Strategies for Legitimizing Difference: Mixed-Race Resistance in the Works of Andrea Thompson and Lorena Gale, Two African-Canadian Writers.” Ties That Bind: Accommodating Complex Diversity in Canada and the European Union. Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. November 18, 2005.
“Towards a Pedagogy of African-Canadian Literature.” “Who are We? Otherness in Canadian Studies.” A symposium in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. McGill University, Montreal, QC. March 11, 2005.
“Seeing Through Race: Surveillance of Black Males in Jessome; Surveying Black Masculinity in James.” Canadian American Research Symposium. United States Immigration Museum. Ellis Island. New York, New York. September 10, 2004.
“What Colour Is the Voice?” Transcultural Improvisations: Performing Hybridity. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia. October 16-19, 2003.
“Strategies for Legitimizing Difference: Mixed-Race Resistance in the Works of Andrea Thompson and Lorena Gale, Two African-Canadian Writers.” Trans/cultural Translators: Mediating Race, Indigeneity, Ethnicity in Four Nations. The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy. August 7, 2003.
“The Afro-Caribbean Heritage of African-Canadian Literature, or The Ironies of Rootless Transplantation.” International Canadian Studies Association. Université du Québec à Montréal. Montréal, QC. May 25, 2003.
“The Afro-Caribbean Heritage of African-Canadian Literature, or The Ironies of Rootless Transplantation.” The African Atlantic: The Making of Black Diasporas. Collegium for African American Research and King Alfred’s College. Winchester, England. April 14, 2003.
“Invisible Insurgency?: The Black Arts Movement in Canada, 1968-1978.” Engaging North America: Illuminating Black Canada, An International Scholars Conference. Institute for African American Research. University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, NC. April 2, 2003.
“Locating the Early Dionne Brand: Landing a Voice.” Keynote Address. Literary and Cultural Inquiries: 4th Annual Graduate Student Conference in Comparative Canadian Literature. Université de Sherbrooke. Sherbrooke, Québec. March 29, 2003.
“Reading Africana, or The Americanization of Africa and Its Diaspora.” American Studies Conference. Bogazici University. Istanbul, Turkey. March 7, 2003.
“Invisible Insurgency?: The Black Arts Movement in Canada, 1968-1978.” American Studies Association. Houston, Texas. November 15, 2002.
“Locating the Early Dionne Brand: Landing a Voice.” Symposium on Book and Print Culture. University of Toronto. May 28, 2002.
“Let Us Compare Anthologies: Roman Candles and Canada In Us Now, or Reading ‘Ethnic’ and ‘Racial’ Rhetorical Strategies Regarding Canadian Multiculturalism in the 1970s.” Keynote Address. Association for Italian Canadian Writers. Toronto, Ontario. May 27, 2002.
“Gynocentric Darwinism in the African-Canadian Drama of George Boyd and Djanet Sears.” Theatre and Exile Conference. Graduate Centre for the Study of Drama. University of Toronto, March 22, 2002.
“The Africadian/African-Nova Scotian Family in Slaveholding Nova Scotia, 1713-1834.” On the Margins of Family. Coach House, Dundurn Castle, McMaster University. April 30-May 1, 2001.
"Racing Shelley's The Cenci, or Reading Incest as Slavery." Romanticism and the New. North American Society for the Study of Romanticism. University of King's College. Halifax, Nova Scotia. August 12, 1999.
"African-Canadian Variations on Slave Narratives: A Meditation on the Rhetoric of Braithwaite, Hill, and Brown." African-American Rhetoric: Tradition and Innovation. Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada (HSSFC). Bishop's University. Lennoxville, Québec. June 5, 1999.
"Africadians." Association for Canadian Studies in the United States: ACSUS-in-Canada Colloquium. Halifax, Nova Scotia. June 26, 1998.
"Eroticism and the Quest for 'Mother Tongue' in Claire Harris, M. Nourbese Philip, and Dionne Brand." Association for Canadian Studies in the United States: 14th Biennial Meeting. Minneapolis, Minnesota. November 20, 1997.
"The Race Against Erasure: The Defensive Strategies of African-Canadian Culture." African Canadian Space(s) and Place(s): Public Cultures and the (Re) Colouring of the National Landscape. American Studies Association Conference. Washington, D.C. October 31, 1997.
"Syl Cheney-Coker's Nova Scotia, or The Limits of Pan-Africanism." New Currents in the North Atlantic: Emerging Scholarship on Atlantic Canada. Atlantic Canada Workshop. Public Archives of Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia. August 16, 1997.
"Getting the Word Out: Self-Publication and the Development of African-Canadian Literature." The History of the Book in Canada/Histoire de l'imprimé au Canada. National Library of Canada/Bibliothèque nationale du Canada. Ottawa, Ontario. May 24, 1997.
"The Future of Poetry: Embracing the Populist Poetics of Amiri Baraka and Ntzoake Shange." Reconcilable (In) Differences: The Marriage Between Writers and Theorists. University of Denver. Denver, Colorado. April 5, 1997.
"What Is Canadian About African-Canadian Literature and Why Should It Matter?" Association for Canadian Studies in the United States Colloquium: North America in the 21st Century: Perspectives on Autonomy, Exchange, and Integration. Toronto, Ontario, November 8, 1996.
"Autumn Leaves/Les Feuilles mortes: Constructions of France in the Work of African-American Jazz Musicians." Harvard University, W. E. B. DuBois Institute and Centre d'études afro-americaines, Université de la Sorbonne nouvelle. La Sorbonne, Paris, France, 26 avril, 1996.
"Must All Blackness Be American?: Locating Canada in Borden's 'Tightrope Time', or Nationalizing Gilroy's The Black Atlantic." Association for Canadian Studies in the U.S.: 13th Biennial Meeting. Seattle, Washington. November 16, 1995.
"Post-Colonial Yearning and Frustration in Austin Clarke's Short Fiction." Race, Gender, and the Construction of Canada. University of British Columbia. October 20, 1995.
"Souls on Ice: Reading Black and White in Contemporary Québécois Literature." Windy Pines Colloquium on Race and Ethnicity in Canadian Literature. Trent University, Peterborough Ontario. August 25, 1995.
"Liberalism and Its Discontents: Reading Black and White in Contemporary Québécois Literature." Association for Canadian and Québécois Literature. Université du Québec à Montréal. June 2, 1995.
"Cool Politics: Styles of Honour in Malcolm X and Miles Davis." Popular Culture Association, Silver Anniversary Meeting. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 14, 1995.
"The Symbol of Africville in Africadian Culture." Popular Culture Association, Silver Anniversary Meeting. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 15, 1995.
"White Niggers, Black Slaves: The Construction of Racial Identity in Haliburton's The Clockmaker." Association for Canadian and Québécois Literature Session. Learned Societies' Convention. Carleton University. June 1993.
"Towards a Conservative Modernity: Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Acadian and Africadian Poetry." Southwest Association for Canadian Studies Conference. Southwestern Louisiana University. February 1993.
"A First Portrait of Africadian Literature." Political Economy of Region. Atlantic Canada Workshop. Carleton University. Ottawa, Ontario. August 1991.