MHC_CUPOLA_burgandy.png

MICHAEL JANIS, PH.D.

Morehouse College

Humanities, Social Sciences, Media, and Arts Division Faculty
  • Professor, English
Education
Dr. Michael Janis is a professor in the English Department at Morehouse College, who teaches classes such as West African Fiction and Film, Literary Theory, Global Modernism, Latin American Fiction and Film, and Immigrant Voices. His research includes: Africana literature and culture, modernism, feminism, postcolonial theory, and continental philosophy.

Since 2003, Michael Janis has taught classes such as West African Fiction and Film, Literary Theory, and World Literature. Founder and adviser of the Africana Film Society, he works at fostering an interest in international education on campus and building bridges between Africa and the Diaspora.

Having worked in Côte d’Ivoire (travelling widely in West Africa), Guatemala, Japan, and Colombia, Professor Janis speaks Spanish and French and often provides advice to students interested in working or studying abroad. In recent years, his classes have been involved in experiential learning and civic-engagement projects with local high schools and with immigrant outreach organizations. Janis served as an editorial board member of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (Purdue University) from 2014-2020.

Contact:

Email
michael.janis@morehouse.edu

Office Location
Brawley Hall 103G 

Phone
470-639-0627

Office Hours
Tuesday, Thursday
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and by appointment

Courses:

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Africana literature and culture; modernism; feminism, postcolonial theory, and continental philosophy.

Selected Publications

2008
AFRICA AFTER MODERNISM: TRANSITIONS IN LITERATURE, MEDIA, AND PHILOSOPHY
Routledge Press (2008)
Michael Janis

2021
“‘THE BET’ AGAINST NIHILISM: THE INTELLECTUAL JOURNEY IN CHEKHOV’S SHORT FICTION.”
Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 23, no. 4 (2021): 477-502.
Michael Janis

2020
“MALE FEMINIST ALLIES IN WEST AFRICAN FICTION: W.E.B. DU BOIS AND ETHICAL PEDAGOGY”
Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men 8, no. 1 (2020): 3-28.
Michael Janis

2018
“WOMEN’S VOICES IN THE SHORT FICTION OF MACHADO DE ASSIS AND CHESTNUTT: REALISM, ROMANTICISM, AND THE POETICS OF INTERSUBJECTIVITY.”
American Literary Realism 50, no. 3 (2018): 256-74.
Michael Janis

2013
“THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA: AFROFUTURISTIC PASTS AND AFROPOLITAN FUTURES”
Journal of African Cinemas 5, no. 1 (2013): 33-54.
Michael Janis

2009
“OBAMA, AFRICAN, AND THE POST-RACIAL.”
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 11, no. 2 (2009).
Michael Janis

2008
“REMEMBERING SEMBÈNE: THE GRANDFATHER OF WEST AFRICAN FEMINISM.”
CLA Journal LI, no. 3 (2008): 248-64.
Michael Janis

2006
“AFRICA AND AVANT-GARDE ANTHROPOLOGY: THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF EXOTICISM.”
Cahiers d’études africaines. Paris: École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales 46, no. 183 (2006): 567-596.
Michael Janis

2005
“NÉGRITUDE, MESTIZAJE, AFRICANA PHILOSOPHY: ZAPATA OLIVELLA AND MULTICULTURALIST PAN-AFRICANISM.”
Présence africaine: Revue culturelle du monde noir/Cultural Review of the Black World 171 (2005): 69-79.
Michael Janis

ORGANIZATIONS

  • MOREHOUSE AFRICANA FILM SOCIETY
    Founder/advisor | 2003 – present
  • MANGA AFRICAN DANCE
    Consultant/volunteer | 2007 – present
  • MOREHOUSE DEBATE TEAM
    Judge | 2017 – present