Africana Studies introduces new director

Simone A. James Alexander was hired as an English professor and was appointed as director of Africana Studies this semester.

Alexander said she chose to teach at Lehigh because many professors had overlapping interests, and there are gaps in the Africana curriculum she plans to fill. 

Prior to Lehigh, Alexander earned her Ph.D in comparative literature at Rutgers University, lived in Moscow, Russia for six years and was previously a professor of English and African-American Studies at Seton Hall University.

During this time, she said she developed an interest in Afro-Russian literature, which added another African Diaspora area in which Alexander specializes. 

She said reading Jamaica Kincaid, an Antiguan-American novelist and essayist, in a postcolonial class she took as a student was a “pivotal” experience for her as a Caribbean woman and becoming a Caribbeanist.

“The beautiful thing about being a comparatist is that it allows me to engage with several different fields,” Alexander said.

A literature comparatist researches and examines cultural connections through literary history, criticism, critical theory, aesthetics and poetics, according to an article written by the Department of Comparative Literature at Bryn Mawr University. 

She said her goal is to introduce classes that aren’t currently offered at Lehigh. These might include courses on transnational women’s studies, Carribean feminism and Carribean-Francophone studies as only Francophone-Africa courses are currently offered.

English professor Amardeep Singh said he’s excited to have Alexander join the English department because she brings an area of expertise and knowledge the department currently lacks. 

“She is bringing a wealth of knowledge and research in a whole range of areas that fall under the umbrella of Black Diaspora writing, which includes Caribbean writing, West African writers and Black British writing,” Singh said. 

He said these topics have been underrepresented in Lehigh’s English department.

Alexander said her experience at Rutgers inspired her to conduct research on postcolonial studies, specifically in the Caribbean. 

Alexander has written and published several books about female narratives of the African Diaspora and Caribbean feminism including: “African Diasporic Women’s Narratives: Politics of Resistance, Survival, and Citizenship” “Feminist and Critical Perspectives on Caribbean Mothering” and “Mother Imagery in the Novels of Afro-Caribbean Women.” She’s also the vice president of The Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars.  

Edward Whitley, the chair of the English department, said the department is pleased to welcome  Alexander.

“She is a leader in the field of African American literary studies,” Whitley said. “Furthermore, she has a broad sense of the African diaspora.” 

Singh, who teaches a seminar on American novelist Toni Morrison, said Alexander visited his class earlier this semester when discussing “The Bluest Eye.”

Published in 1970, “The Bluest Eye” was Morrison’s debut novel and follows the story of African-American Pecola Breedlove, an 11-year-old yearning for lighter skin and blue eyes while growing up in a violent household.

The shelving of “The Bluest Eye” has been challenged since 2004 due to sexually explicit content that is “harmful to minors,” according to Marshall Libraries. On October 30, 2023, Judge J. Quist dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Michigan Parents and Taxpayers Against Pornography in Rockford Public Schools, ruling the book possessed literary value.

Since 2021, 44 states have introduced bills to restrict teaching critical race theory, according to an EducationWeek article. 

Alexander said she was drawn to the English department at Lehigh because of their commitment to diversifying the curriculum in the wake of recent nationwide controversies like banning AP African-American History and authors like Toni Morrison.

She said she was impressed Lehigh hired her to teach topics related to critical race theory.

After recently attending a symposium about Black feminism, Alexander said she plans to hold a similar symposium next fall with local colleges and universities in the Lehigh Valley such as Northampton Community College and Lafayette. 

This semester, Alexander said she hopes to increase enrollment in the Africana Studies program. At the majors and minors fair, she said she gathered contact info from interested students and later shared with them the offered courses in the spring.

“I don’t want African Studies to be only for a specific demographic,” Alexander said. “I want it to be outward for the entire Lehigh community.”

This spring, Alexander will teach her first class at Lehigh, titled “Contemporary Black British Writers.”

Outside of the curriculum, Alexander said she wants to strengthen the Africana Studies program’s ties with neighboring universities. 

She also said she wants to expand Lehigh’s study abroad to the Caribbean, specifically to Jamaica, Guyana and Barbados, and she said it’s important for students to explore the lived experiences of residents while they’re studying abroad. 

 “You have to live with these folks and understand what they go through on a day-to-day basis,” Alexander said. “This experience opens up your mind and gives tolerance to differences.”