Ekotto, Frieda

Frieda EKOTTO has been a Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan since 1994. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Ford Foundation seed grant for research and collaborative work with institutions of higher learning in Africa.

Dr. Ekotto has developed and taught a wide range of innovative courses on literature and law in France; literature and film in Africa, the Caribbean and Maghreb; postcolonial narratives by Francophone women and minorities; and representations of family and friendship in Francophone film and literature.

She is the author of six books, three of them at l’Harmattan eds (Paris). She contributes regularly to Afrikadaa, an online magazine of contemporary African art. Her most recent book is entitled What Color is Black ? Race and Sex across the French Atlantic (Lexington Press, 2011).

Professor Ekotto teaches regularly in China and has published numerous articles on cultural interactions between China and Africa. She received the Nicolàs Guillèn Prize for Philosophical Literature in 2014. She will be a Senior fellow (DEA programme) at the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’Homme from April 15 to May 15, 2014.