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Shari Evans

faculty

Shari Evans, PhD

Professor / Chairperson

English & Communication

Contact

508-910-6522

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Balsam Hall 9167

Education

University of New MexicoPhD
University of New MexicoMA
University of PennsylvaniaBA

Teaching

Courses

Work experience at an elective level supervised for academic credit by a faculty member in an appropriate academic field. Conditions and hours to be arranged. Graded CR/NC. For specific procedures and regulations, see section of catalog on Other Learning Experiences.

Survey of African American Literature from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. Course begins with the work of DuBois and Washington and continues through the Harlem Renaissance, the post-war period, the Black Arts Era, into the present, paying particular attention to the women writers who led the post-1970s Renaissance. Course examines all genres of literature and may also include sections on oral literature (such as spoken word poetry) and music (such as jazz, rap, and hip hop). Like the Survey of African American Literature I, this course pays particular attention to the social, political, intellectual, and cultural climate surrounding the literature.

Special topics course in multicultural American Literature, offering a directed approach to literature by multiethnic or African American authors. Topics might focus on a specific historical era or literary movement (like the Harlem Renaissance), a particular cultural group (like African American, Native American, Chicano/a, Jewish, Indian-American, etc.), a genre, or an individual theme in multicultural American literature. The course can be repeated for credit with different topic.

The particular topic of each seminar is announced immediately before each registration period.

Teaching

Online and Continuing Education Courses

The particular topic of each seminar is announced immediately before each registration period.

Research

Research interests

  • African American and Multicultural American Literature
  • Contemporary Women Writers
  • Feminist and Critical Race Theory

Shari Evans joined the English Department in 2005. Professor Evans earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of New Mexico and her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her teaching and research interests include comparative ethnic literatures (particularly African American and Native American) and women writers, as well as race and gender studies and literary theory. Evans's most recent work is on theorizing "home" through the work of Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, and Margaret Atwood. She is currently engaged in work on the space of memory in contemporary multicultural American writers. Evans has most recently presented and written on the work of Octavia Butler, Brenda Marie Osbey, Joy Harjo, and Toni Morrison. She is a recipient of the distinguished American Society of Eighteenth Century Studies Teaching Award and the University of New Mexico's Gunter Starkey Award for Teaching Excellence.

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