Title:
Teaching Assistant Professor, Language InstructorEducation:
Ph.D., Ohio University (African Literature and Performance); M.A., Ohio University (African Studies); M.A., Cheikh Anta Diop University (English)
Teaching and Research Interests:
Black Literature, Global Black Popular Cultures, Postcolonialism, Black-Islamic Literature, Wolof Language.
Current Research:
Dr. Camara’s current monograph is titled, Beyond the Praise Song: Islam, Popular Music, and the Poetics of Cosmopolitan Nationhood in Senegal. It analyzes the poetic form and aesthetics of Senegalese popular music to reveal the defining patterns of poetic modernization, as well as the meaningful intertextuality between secular and sacred poetry in Senegalese popular music. Drawing from oral literature, song lyrics, film analysis, in addition to fieldwork, the book explores how Senegalese popular music has tapped into indigenous oral poetry to produce a cosmopolitan imagination of postcolonial nationhood; one that nurtures interfaith solidarity through lyrics and performance. In other words, the book examines the cultural significance of music poetry as carrier of verbal metaphors of religious tolerance in Senegal. Dr. Camara’s work has appeared in African Languages and Literatures in the Era of Globalization, Research Africa Reviews, and the Journal of African Cultural Studies. Since June 2019, Dr. Camara holds a grant from The British Library as a Co-PI. The project works on collecting and digitizing written and oral narratives among Pulaar-speaking people of the Senegal river valley and southwestern Mali. The ultimate goal is to publish an English
translation of the transcribed volume in an effort to popularize and preserve local literature in this West African region. As a former Fulbright scholar, Dr. Camara is interested in international educational initiatives and curriculum globalization. His teaching takes these matters seriously and he has invested much in setting up Teach/Study Abroad programs aimed to increase students’ knowledge and skills acquisition through implementation of non-traditional modes of learning.
Publications:
1. 2020 “George Floyd Postmortem Protest as a Popular Attack against a Metanarrative of “Dominating,” In Research Africa Reviews. Duke University Press. pp. 17-23. Accessible at https://sites.duke.edu/researchafrica/ra-reviews/volume-2-issue-2-aug-2020/
2. 2019 “Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love as a Window into the Frictions between Islam and popular Music in Senegal,” Journal of African Cultural Studies. Accessible at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13696815.2019.1664897
3. 2019 “Negotiating a Feminist Musical Language in a Twenty First Century Senegalese Muslim Society,” Book Chapter, In African Languages and Literatures in the Era of Globalization, Eds. Esther Mukewa Lisanza and Leonard Muaka. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 213-238. Accessible at https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-23479-9_10
4. 2018 “Film Review of Children of the Mountain, Priscilla Anany (Ghana, 2016),” In Research Africa Reviews. Duke University Press. Accessible at https://sites.duke.edu/researchafrica/files/2018/05/2-7-RA-Reviews-Children-of-the-Mountain.pdf
Online Public Opinions:
1. 2018 “Auctioning African Emigrants in Libya: Stories behind a ‘Modern Slavery,’” The herald Sun. Accessible at http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/article188172779.html
2. 2016 “Journée internationale de l’écrivain africain au Sénégal: Les grands absents,” Leral.net. Accessible at https://www.leral.net/Journee-internationale-de-l-ecrivain-africain-au-Senegal-Les-grands-absents-Par-Samba-Camara_a184931.htm