Professor of Comparative Literature and DAAS
ekotto@umich.eduOffice Information:
phone: 734-764-5513
Education/Degree:
Ph.D., Comparative Literature and French Literature, University of Minnesota
Highlighted Work and Publications
From Women Loving Women in Africa to Jean Genet and Race: A Conversation with Frieda Ekotto
Naminata Diabate
On November 2008, shortly after the historic election of Barack Obama as the
first black president of the United States, ND sat down with author and cultural
critic Frieda Ekotto, who teaches Comparative Literature and French literature
at the University of Michigan. In a wide-ranging discussion, she talked to Prof.
Ekotto about her novel...
Race and Sex across the French Atlantic: The Color of Black in Literary, Philosophical and Theater Discourse
Frieda Ekotto
Jean Genet's masterpiece Les Nègres was first published in 1958, in the midst of the Algerian war, and first performed at the Théâtre de Lutèce in Paris in October 1959. Yet even though the play is more than 50 years old, it remains a fundamental contribution to critical race theory, as Genet unequivocally posits that no matter what a black person does or doesn't do, simply to be black in our times is itself a tragedy.
Placing Genet in the context of Negritude movement, Race and Sex across the French Atlantic equally reveals and examines blackness within the African-American dialogue...
