Helen Chukwuma

Visiting Professor of English

Ph.D., Literature, Birmingham , England
TESL: Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language, University      of California , Los Angeles
M.A., English, University of California , Los Angeles
M.A., Folklore and Mythology, University of California , Los Angeles
B.A., English, Nigeria

Office: 449 College of Liberal Arts Building
Phone: 601.979.1479

Dr. Helen Chukwuma is a feminist scholar and the first female to be made a Professor at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria in 1993. From 1991-92, she was a Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.

Dr. Chukwuma has written or edited five textbooks and has served as the editor of the Journal of Women’s Studies in Africa. Her academic areas of interest are African literature, oral and written, African fiction, feminist theory in literature, contemporary English and American literature, African and African-American women authors, and women’s studies. Chukwuma’s current research focuses on indigenous African feminism and meeting points in Black women’s literature. She is currently editing a text on Chinua Achebe titled Achebe’s Women: Imagism and Power.

Selected Publications

Accents on the African Novel . 2nd ed. Nigeria, Port Harcourt: Pearl Publishers, 2003. (1991)

Ed. Feminism in African Literature. 2nd ed. Nigeria, Port Harcourt: Pearl Publishers, 2003. (1994)

Women Writing: Feminism and National Development in Nigeria . Inaugural Lecture. University of Port Harcourt Press. 5 February 2004 .

A book in Dr. Chukwuma’s honor, a Festschrift.
Keroye, Seyifa and Noel C. Anyadike, eds. Woman in the Academy Festschrift for Professor Helen Chukwuma. Pearl Publishers, 2004.

Courses Taught

Membership in Professional Organizations

Modern Language Association
African Literature Association of America
Women’s Caucus of the African Literature Association (President 2009-2010)
National Council of Teachers of English