Education
- BA, History, The College of William and Mary
- MA, African American Studies, University of Maryland Baltimore County
- PhD, African American Studies, Temple University
Christel N. Temple is Professor of Africana Studies and an affiliate of The Graduate Program for Cultural Studies (CLST), the Critical European Culture Studies doctoral program (CED), and the African Studies Program (ASP). Professor Temple received her B.A. from the College of William and Mary, where she majored in History, her M.A. in Comparative Black Literature from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and her Ph.D. in African American Studies from Temple University. Her major fields of interest are Africana Cultural Memory Studies, Comparative Africana Literature, Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and Afroeuropean Studies. She has published widely on issues of Diaspora cultural theory and Africana literary history and criticism.
Temple is the author of Black Cultural Mythology (SUNY, 2020), Transcendence and the Africana Literary Enterprise (Lexington, 2017), Literary Spaces: Introduction to Comparative Black Literature (Carolina Academic Press, 2007), and Literary Pan-Africanism: History, Contexts, and Criticism (Carolina Academic Press, 2005). She has a forthcoming collection on Muhammad Ali in Africana Cultural Memory (Anthem, 2021) co-edited with James L. Conyers, Jr.
Temple’s essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in Journal of Black Studies, CLA Journal, Nations and Nationalism, SAGE: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, Journal of Multicultural Discourses, International Journal of Black Studies, Journal of African American Studies, Western Journal of Black Studies, Journal of Pan African Studies, Africalogical Perspectives, and African Studies Quarterly. Currently, she is Series Editor for the Critical Africana Studies book series with Lexington Books. She served a term as Department Chair from 2016 to 2019 and is a former Executive Director of the Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement (DISA) that convenes the annual Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference in Philadelphia.
Recent Publications
BOOKS
- Black Cultural Mythology (SUNY Press, 2020).
- Muhammad Ali in Africana Cultural Memory, co-edited with James L. Conyers, Jr. (New York: Anthem Press, 2021, forthcoming).
- Transcendence and the Africana Literary Enterprise (New York: Lexington Books, 2017).
- Literary Spaces: Introduction to Comparative Black Literature (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2007).
- Literary Pan-Africanism: History, Contexts, and Criticism (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2005)
ARTICLES/CHAPTERS
- "1619: A Conceptual Worldview Marker in Africana Cultural Memory Studies," in The African Experience in Colonial Virginia: Essays on the 1619 Arrival and the Legacy of Slavery, edited by Colita N. Fairfax (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2020, forthcoming).
- "The History of Literary Pan-Africanism," in The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism, edited by Reiland Rabaka (New York: Routledge, 2020, forthcoming).
- "A Value Added Module for Introduction to Africana Studies: Speaking in the Disciplines and Africana Market Value," in Africana Urban Education, edited by James L. Conyers, Jr. (New York: Anthem Press, 2021, forthcoming).
- “Practicing Autoethnography: Transnational Afro-German Heritage.” Locating African European Studies: Interventions—Intersections—Coalitions. Edited by. Felipe Espinoza Garrido, Caroline Kögler, Deborah Nyangulu, and Mark U. Stein. New York: Routledge [Studies on African and Black Diaspora], 2018. (forthcoming).
- “Africana Literature as Social Science: Applying the Demographic Literary Standard (DLS) to Works of August Wilson and Suzan-Lori Parks,” Africana Studies 7 (2016): 1-30.
- “Islam in the Africana Literary Tradition.” Africana Islamic Studies. Edited by James L. Conyers, Jr. and Abul Pitra. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2016. 117-129.
- “Charles Hamilton Houston and Post-New Negro Movement Authority: The Socio-Literary History of a Legal Warrior.” Charles Hamilton Houston: An Interdisciplinary Study of Civil Rights Leadership. Edited by James L. Conyers, Jr. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2012. 171-193.
- “Ancient Kemet in African American Literature and Criticism, 1853 to the Present,”Journal of Pan African Studies 5.4 (June 2012): 129-148.
- “The Cosmology of Afrocentric Womanism,” The Western Journal of Black Studies 36.1 (Spring 2012): 23-32.
- “The Emergence of Sankofa Practice in the United States: A Modern History,” Journal of Black Studies 41.1 (September 2010): 127-150.
- “Communicating Race and Culture in the 21st Century: Discourse and the Post-Racial/Post-Cultural Challenge” invited essay for Journal of Multicultural Discourses 5.1 (March 2010): 45-63.
Research Interests
- Africana Cultural Memory Studies
- Black Cultural Mythology
- Comparative Black Literature and Criticism
- Pan-Africanism
- Intersections of History and Literature
- Cultural Theory
Public Service (National/International) - Specialist Reader for MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S.
- Editorial Board member for Africalogical Perspectives
- Executive Council member for DISA (Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement) which produces the annual Cheikh Anta Diop Conference in Philadelphia, PA
- Book Review Editor for Africana Studies: A Review of Social Science Research
- Executive Committee member for the annual Black Religion and Spirituality Conference of the Department of African and African American Studies, Michigan State University
Professional Affiliations - College Language Association (CLA)
- National Council for Black Studies (NCBS)
- Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement (DISA)
- Member of the Board of Editors for the Journal of Black Studies