Zeba Shahbaaz
Assistant Professor听
Department of Languages, Literature and Philosophy
310-B Elliot
615-963-2569
zshahbaaz@tnstate.edu
Education
Ph.D.,听Indiana University, Bloomington
M.A.,听North Carolina A&T State University
B.A.,听Florida State University
Bio
Dr. Shahbaaz is a teaching and research scholar in the fields of English literature and Africana Studies. Through a blend of critical engagement and creative activities, Dr. Shahbaaz enthusiastically invites her students to explore the intricacies of Black life and culture, as the focal point of her teaching. Dr. Shahbaaz's research interests span a wide range of topics, encompassing African American and African diasporic literature and history, Literary Theory, Africana Studies, Caribbean Literature, Self-care and Identity, Black Feminist Thought, and Black Popular Culture and Music Studies. Moreover, Dr. Shahbaaz is committed to equipping her students with essential professional skills, including technical and transferrable writing abilities, critical thinking prowess, and creative projects for future career application.
Publications
鈥淎 Face-off with Self: Examining Black Exceptionalism and Cultural Rootedness in Teju Cole鈥檚 Open City and Colson Whitehead鈥檚 Apex Hides the Hurt鈥� South Atlantic Review. Forthcoming. 2024.
鈥淏ag Lady: Unpacking Black Women鈥檚 Experiences in African American Literature and Black Popular Music using bell hooks鈥� Healing Practice and Teaching Praxis.鈥� College English. Vol 85. No. 3. 2023. pp. 243-259.
鈥淐onjuring Roots in Dystopia: Reconciling Transgenerational Conflict and Dislocation in Nalo Hopkinson鈥檚 Brown Girl in the Ring and Edwidge Danticat鈥檚 Brother, I鈥檓 Dying.鈥� Mobility, Spatiality, and Resistance in Literary and Political Discourse, edited by Christian Beck, 1st ed., Springer Nature, 2021, pp. 73鈥�90.
Selected Conference Presentations
鈥淭he Power of Testimony: A Call for Help, Justice, and Freedom in Black Autobiographical Writing.鈥� 14th annual Conference, African, African American & Diaspora Studies (AAAD). 2024.
鈥淐oming to America: Addressing Stereotypes and the Hype within the African Diaspora.鈥� 9th Annual Africa Conference. 91制片厂. Nashville, Tennessee. 2023.
鈥�(Re)Imagining Black Women鈥檚 Self-Care in Virtual Reality.鈥� Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies鈥� Herman C. Hudson Symposium: Speculative Blackness: Imagining Black Future(s). Bloomington, Indiana. March 30th, 2019.
鈥淓xplore Black History Month in Virtual Reality.鈥� Black History Month Program. Monroe County Library Auditorium. Bloomington, Indiana. February 18th, 2019.
鈥淟iving on the Outside: The Complexity of Preserving the Black Self in 鈥榃hite鈥� America.鈥�42nd annual National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) Conference. Atlanta, Georgia, March 15th-17th, 2018.
鈥淕raduate Student Leadership and Research in Black Studies PhD Programs.鈥� 102nd annual meeting and conference for the Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH), September 28th, 2017.
"Repelling Machiavellian Archetypes and the 鈥楳aster鈥� narrative in Baldwin and Tupac鈥檚 Expressions.鈥� Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies鈥� Herman C. Hudson Symposium:听Resistance: Theory and Practice Through the African Diaspora.听Bloomington, Indiana.听April 1st, 2017.
鈥淓mbodied Dystopia: The Prevalence of Severed 鈥楻oots鈥� and Transgenerational Conflict in Brown Girl in the Ring and Brother, I鈥檓 Dying.鈥� The Department of Geography鈥檚 11th Annual Indiana University Landscape, Space, and Place Conference. Bloomington, Indiana. March 2nd-3rd, 2017.
鈥淐onnoting 鈥楧arkness:鈥� Colonialism and the Dominance of Language in Chinua Achebe鈥檚 Man of the People, 鈥淓nglish and the African Writer,鈥� and Joseph Conrad鈥檚 Heart of Darkness.鈥� 42nd Annual Conference for the African Literature Association (ALA): Justice and Human Dignity in Africa and the African Diaspora. Atlanta, Georgia. April 6-9th, 2016.
鈥淲e or Me: Rejecting Racial Essentialism for Authenticity with the 鈥楢ct鈥� of Passing in James Weldon Johnson鈥檚 The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, and Nella Larsen鈥檚 Quicksand and Passing.鈥� Identity and Culture: Engaging Interdisciplinary Conversations Conference at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Greensboro, North Carolina. March 1, 2014.
鈥淭eaching the Othello Complex: Student Writers Rewrite and Address the Postcolonial Narrative of 鈥淥thered,鈥� 鈥淪ubaltern,鈥� & 鈥淢arginalized鈥� Global Entities.鈥� 85th Southern Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference. Atlanta, Georgia. November 8-10, 2013.
鈥淢obile to Immobile: Exploring Movement in Sutton E. Griggs鈥� Imperium in Imperio, Charles Chesnutt鈥檚 The Marrow of Tradition, and Frank Webb鈥檚 The Garies and Their Friends.鈥� Department of English鈥檚 Southern Graduate Conference at the University of Mississippi. Oxford, Mississippi. July 18-20, 2013.
Classes Taught TSU
ENGL 1010: Freshman English I
ENGL 1020: Freshman English II
ENGL 2013: Black Arts and Literature
ENGL 2023: Black Lit Short Story and Novel
ENGL 3010: Critical Approaches
ENGL 4010: Special Topics, Afrofuturism and Black Futures
Select University/Department Committees
Faculty Senate Professional Development Committee
English Major Assessment Committee
Career Preparedness Committee
Online Program Committee
College of Liberal Arts Africana Studies Committee
Technology Committee
English MA Program Committee
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