Hazel Carby
Encyclopedia
Hazel V. Carby is professor of African American Studies
and of American Studies
at Yale University
. Before joining Yale University faculty, she taught English at Wesleyan University
for seven years. She currently teaches courses on issues of race, gender and sexuality through the culture and literature of the Caribbean and its Diaspora; through transnational and postcolonial literature and theory; through representations of the black female body; and through the genres of science fiction. Identified as a marxist feminist, her work primarily deals with detecting and probing discrepancies between the symbolic constructions of the black experience and the actual lives of African Americans.
Dr. Carby is considered a pioneer in black feminism
and is also known as one of the world’s leading scholars on race, gender, and African American issues. One of her most influential contributions to African Diaspora studies came with her first book, Reconstructing Womanhood
: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist. Reconstructing Womanhood offers one of the earliest and most comprehensive studies on black female writers including Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, Anna Cooper, and Ida B. Wells
among others. Carby followed this book with Race Men: The Body and Soul of Race, Nation, and Manhood. After Race Men, she penned Cultures in Babylon: Black Britain and African America. Currently she is working on her forthcoming book, Child of Empire. Carby has lectured at numerous colleges and universities worldwide including Columbia University
, Stanford University
, the University of Paris
, and University of Toronto
.
, on May 29, 1982.
African American studies
African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. It is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans...
and of American Studies
American studies
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of the United States. It traditionally incorporates the study of history, literature, and critical theory, but also includes fields as diverse as law, art, the media, film, religious studies, urban...
at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. Before joining Yale University faculty, she taught English at Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
for seven years. She currently teaches courses on issues of race, gender and sexuality through the culture and literature of the Caribbean and its Diaspora; through transnational and postcolonial literature and theory; through representations of the black female body; and through the genres of science fiction. Identified as a marxist feminist, her work primarily deals with detecting and probing discrepancies between the symbolic constructions of the black experience and the actual lives of African Americans.
Dr. Carby is considered a pioneer in black feminism
Black feminism
Black feminism argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism are inextricably bound together. Forms of feminism that strive to overcome sexism and class oppression. The Combahee River Collective argued in 1974 that the liberation of black women entails freedom for all people, since it would...
and is also known as one of the world’s leading scholars on race, gender, and African American issues. One of her most influential contributions to African Diaspora studies came with her first book, Reconstructing Womanhood
Reconstructing Womanhood
Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman NovelistWhen Hazel Carby received her Ph.D. in 1984 from Birmingham University, her thesis, which centered on slave narratives by women, later became the foundation for her book, Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the...
: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist. Reconstructing Womanhood offers one of the earliest and most comprehensive studies on black female writers including Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, Anna Cooper, and Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an African American journalist, newspaper editor and, with her husband, newspaper owner Ferdinand L. Barnett, an early leader in the civil rights movement. She documented lynching in the United States, showing how it was often a way to control or punish blacks who...
among others. Carby followed this book with Race Men: The Body and Soul of Race, Nation, and Manhood. After Race Men, she penned Cultures in Babylon: Black Britain and African America. Currently she is working on her forthcoming book, Child of Empire. Carby has lectured at numerous colleges and universities worldwide including Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, and University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
.
Biography
Hazel Carby was born of Jamaican and Welsh parents in Oakhamton, Devon, Great Britain, on January 15, 1948. She married fellow Yale professor, Michael DenningMichael Denning
Michael Denning is an American cultural historian and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of American Studies at Yale University. His work has been influential in shaping the field of American Studies by importing and interpreting the work of British Cultural Studies theorists. Although he received his...
, on May 29, 1982.
Education
- B.A. in English and history, Portsmouth Polytechnic, 1970
- P.G.C.E. (teaching certificate), Institute of Education, London University, 1972
- M.A., Birmingham University Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies, 1979
- Ph.D., Birmingham University Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies, 1984