Seodial Deena
About
Seodial Frank H. Deena is Professor of Multicultural and Postcolonial/Transnational Literature and Criticism at East Carolina University where he co-coordinates the Graduate Multicultural and Transnational Literatures Program and teaches multicultural, world, postcolonial, African American, and Caribbean literatures, as well as the Bible as Literature. He received his Ph.D. in Literature and Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, his masters degree from Chicago State University, and his undergraduate degree from the University of Guyana. His research includes three books, 42 articles, and 150 presentations (92 conference presentations and 58 other scholarly presentations). He has published widely in professional journals such as College Language Association Journal, UFAHAMU: Journal of the African Activist Association, Commonwealth Novel in English, Commonwealth Review, Indo-American Review, Afro-American Literature, The Literary GRIOT, and Journal of Caribbean Studies; and has chapters in Postcolonial Discourse (Prestige 1996), Literature of Nature (Fitzroy Dearborn 1998), Alice Walker’s The Color Purple: A Reader’s Companion (Asia Book Club 2002), Latitude 63˚ North (Mid-Sweden University College 2002), and Terranglian Territories (Peter Lang 2000). His books, Canonization, Colonization, Decolonization: A Comparative Study of Political and Critical Works by Minority Writers (Peter Lang Publishing INC., 2001), From Around the Globe: Secular Authors and Biblical Perspectives (University Press of America, 2007), and Situating Caribbean Literature and Criticism in Multicultural and Postcolonial Studies (Peter Lang Publishing INC., 2009), have been published. and he is currently working on “Multicultural, Postcolonial, and Postmodern Cross-sections and Intersections with the Bible, Literature, and Culture.” Dr. Deena has traveled to more than 50 countries, and he brings an international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary approach to his research, teaching, and service.
Dr. Deena is the founder and editor of RNLAJ (Region and Nation Literature Association Journal), which is the journal of Region and Nation Literature Association, and the current editor of Journal of Caribbean Studies, which is the journal of the Association of Caribbean Studies. He served as MLA Bibliographer for six postcolonial journals, and he is on the editorial boards of Indo-American Review, The Commonwealth Review, and A Turbulent Voyage. He reads for Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies and Literature Interpretation Theory, and is the Vice President of the Association of Caribbean Studies.
He loves spending time with his wife Debbie and four children—Shivaun, Esther, Rachel, and David and doing glocal (global and local) humanitarian work.
Education
- Teacher’s Certification, Lillian Dewar College of Education, Guyana
- B.A. University of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana
- M.A. Chicago State University
- Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Research Interests
- Postcolonial Literature
- Multicultural Literature
- Caribbean Literature
- World Literature
- African Literature
- African American Literature
- Biblical Literature
- Cultural Criticism
- Feminist Criticism
- Postcolonial Criticism
Courses Taught
- ENGL 7365: Multicultural Literature Seminar
- ENGL 6365: Special Topics Seminar in Multicultural Literature
- ENGL 6360: World Literature Written in English
- ENGL 6340: Ethnic American Literature
- ENGL 5360: Studies in African American Literature
- ENGL 3640: Literature and Religion
- ENGL 3630: The Bible as Literature
- ENGL 3260: Black Literature in America
- ENGL 3100: World Literature in English
- ENGL 2201: Writing about the Disciplines
- ENGL 1100: Foundations of College Writing.