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English Professor Amritjit Singh Receives MELUS Lifetime Achievement Award
News for 02-21-2007
ATHENS, Ohio (March 13, 2007) -- Ohio University Langston Hughes Professor of English and African American Studies Amritjit Singh will receive the 2007 MELUS Lifetime Achievement Award at the 21st Annual MELUS Conference this spring. MELUS, the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature, honors scholars with the award for their achievements in ethnic American literary scholarship. MELUS (www.melus.org) is a national organization of college and university professors committed to expanding the definition and canon of American literature through "the study and teaching of African American, Latino/a American, Native American, Asian American and ethnically-specific European American literary works, their authors and their cultural contexts."
Past MELUS Lifetime Achievement Awardees include scholars such as Barbara Christian, Nellie McKay, Blyden Jackson, Paul Lauter, Jean Fagan Yellin, Joseph Skerrett, Dan Walden, John M. Reilly, and Eric Sundquist, as well as poet Michael S. Harper and novelist John Edgar Wideman. When asked how he feels about the award, Singh said he feels both honored and humbled to be in such distinguished company. He is the first Ohio University faculty member to win this award and also the first foreign-born American to receive the honor. Singh was born in India and came first to the US in 1968 on a Fulbright to do his Ph.D. at NYU.
"I feel gratified that my work over the past 35 years in African American and ethnic American literature is being acknowledged by an organization that still means so much to me," Singh said. "I have been fortunate to have had the affection and support of literally dozens f colleagues, who have over the years collaborated with me on challenging scholarly projects." Singh came to OU in January 2006 as a visiting professor and was persuaded to stay on. In his first year as a full-time faculty member at Ohio University, Singh has made a difference.
"He has been a great presence, throwing himself into the life and activities of our department," said Joe McLaughlin, Chair of the English Department. "We have a very strong commitment to diversity in our department, as can be seen from hires we have made in recent years and the evolving syllabi and interests of our long-term faculty. Professor Singh brings us a significant, nationally known scholar in African American literature and the ethnic literatures of the U.S."
In 2002, Singh was a senior Fulbright Professor at the JFK Institute of North American Studies, Freie University, Berlin, and the University of Leipzig. His poems and translations from Punjabi poetry have appeared in Toronto Review, Nimrod, Edinburgh Review, New Letters, Chelsea, and elsewhere. His scholarship includes several books on the Harlem Renaissance (including Collected Writings of Wallace Thurman, 2003, edited with Daniel M. Scott, III), two co-edited volumes on the uses of memory in ethnic American literature, as well as Postcolonial Theory and the United States (2000), co-edited with Peter Schmidt, that explores the relationship between postcolonial studies and ethnic American studies. Among his other publications are India: An Anthology of Contemporary Writing (OU Press, 1983); The Magic Circle of Henry James (1989); Conversations with Ralph Ellison (1995); and Interviews with Edward W. Said (2004). In 2004, he also co-edited with C. Lok Chua, a bumper double issue of the journal MELUS that honored the legacy of MELUS founder, the late Katharine D. Newman. A Series Editor for the MELA (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas) Series from Rutgers University Press, he is currently co-editing a documentary history of South Asians in North America.
Singh joined MELUS in 1973, the year of its inception, took a nine-year hiatus when he returned to India and joined again in 1983. He served as President of the organization from 1994 to 1997, as Deputy Editor of its journal from 1987 to 1999, and as Program Chair from 1988 to 1990. During his leadership, MELUS chapters were launched in Europe (www.mesea.org) and India (www.melus-melow.org), and those organizations have had several successful international conferences. This year's MELUS conference will be held March 22 to 25 at California State University at Fresno, CA.