Members Profiles

Gabriel Abudu, English and Humanities, York College of Pennsylvania, 441 Country Club Road, York, PA 17403, USA, gabudu@ycp.edu, Phone: 717-815-1707

Gabriel Abudu is Associate Professor of Spanish at York College of Pennsylvania.

Dieudonne Afatsawo, Department of Modern Languages, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943, USA, dafatsawo@hsc.edu, Phone: 434-233-6336 

Dieudonne Afatsawo is Associate Professor at Hampden-Sydney College.  Areas of scholarly interests and publications include Peninsular Literature(s) and Culture(s), Exile Literature, Writers and Artists in Spain of African Descent, Spanish-African Relations, Spanish Youth Movements.  His most recent article on the Spanish exile writer, Max Aub: “Sesión secreta o la crisis del modelo occidental de desarrollo económico para África,” was published in 2015 by Euclides, the journal of the Fundación Max Aub (Valencia, Spain). He is currently working on two works by Max Aub dealing with the Holocaust and the Vietnam War.

Yaw Agawu-Kakraba, World Languages, Pennsylvania State University, Altoona College, Altoona, PA 16601, USA, yxa3@psu.edu, Phone: 814-949-5360

Yaw Agawu-Kakraba is Professor of Spanish at the Pennsylvania State University. He has published extensively in the field of Hispanic literature and cultures. His major book publications include Demythification in the Fiction of Miguel Delibes (1996), Postmodernity in Spanish Fiction and Culture (2012) and a co-edited book, Diasporic Identities within Afro-Hispanic and African Contexts (2015). Several of his journal articles have also appeared in major journals such as Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Revista Hispánica Moderna, and Anales de la Literatura Contemporeanea. Aside from his primary focus on 20th - and 21st-century Spanish literature and culture, he also explores the works of writers from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.  He is the President of the Ghanaian Association of Hispanists.

Komla Aggor, Department of Spanish and Hispanic Studies, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA, k.aggor@tcu.edu, Phone: 817-257-6977

Komla Aggor is Professor at Texas Christian University, USA. His areas of expertise and research are 20th-21st-Century Spanish literature and culture, Postmodernist theater, and Afro-Hispanic studies. His articles have appeared in major periodicals, including Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Hispanic Review, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Revista Hispánica Moderna, and others. He is author of Francisco Nieva and Postmodernist Theatre (U of Wales P), Francisco Nieva y el teatro posmodernista (Editorial Fundamentos, RESAD), and Eros en la poesía de Miguel Hernández (Spanish Literature Publications). Professor Aggor teaches an array of courses, including Oral Communication in Spanish, Contemporary Spanish Drama, Race and Identity, and Africa through Film. He is associate editor of Estreno, journal of 20th-21st Century Spanish theater. He is the Secretary and Treasurer of the Ghanaian Association of Hispanists.

Comfort Awotwi Pratt, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, College of Education, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA, c.pratt@ttu.edu, Phone: (806)834-5710

Comfort Awotwi Pratt is Associate Professor at Texas Tech University, USA. Her areas of specialization include Spanish, French, linguistics, foreign language education, and sociolinguistics. Her research focuses on teaching strategies and student motivations. She teaches Spanish, language acquisition, pedagogy, and diversity courses. She directs a summer study program in Salamanca, Spain, where students study at Universidad Pontífica de Salamanca. She has received numerous awards including the Presidents' Excellence in Teaching Award, Teaching Academy Award for Meritorious Achievement in Teaching, and others. She is the author of In-class Communicative Projects (Pearson Prentice Hall) and El español del noroeste de Luisiana" Pervivencia d un dialecto amenazado (Editorial Verbum). Her articles have appeared in several journals such as Southern Journal of Linguistics, Journal of Humanities and Social Science, and Hispania.

Fred Agbemade, Department of Humanities Cultures, Paine College, Augusta, GA 30901, USA, fagbemade@paine.edu, Phone (706) 821-8216

Fred Agbemade is an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Paine College. His research interests include 20th-21st-Century Caribbean & Latin American literature and Afro-Caribbean literature and culture.

Johnson Asunka, Department of Modern Languages,  University of Ghana, Legon, jasunka@ug.edu.gh, Phone: (024) 475-6799

Johnson Asunka is a Lecturer at the University of Ghana. His scholarly interests include Translation and Comparative Linguistics

Joanna Boampong, Department of Modern Languages, University of Ghana, Legon,   jboampong@ug.edu.gh,  Phone: (024) 368-7902

Joanna Boampong is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana. Her scholarly interests include Transatlantic Spanish Literatures and Cultures.

Jeffrey K. Coleman, Department of Spanish & Portuguese Northwestern University, USA, jeffrey.coleman@northwestern.edu, Phone: 847-491-8281

Jeffrey K. Coleman is Associate Professor of Spanish at Northwestern University. He specializes in 20th Century and Contemporary Peninsular Spanish Literature. He earned his Ph.D in 2004 from the University of Chicago with a dissertation on the portrayals of the immigration question in contemporary Peninsular Spanish theatre. He is also interested in contemporary Catalan literature. His latest research project is a monograph on the theatrical trajectory of immigration in Spain from 1992-present.

George Demuyakor, Humanities Department, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA 30501,USA, kademoya@bellsouth.net, Phone 770-534-6216

George Demuyakor is Associate Professor of Spanish at Brenau University.

Arthur Hughes, Department of Modern Languages, Ohio University Athens, OH 45701, USA, hughes@ohio.edu, Phone: 740-593-2773

Arthur Hughes is Associate Professor of Spanish at Ohio University. His fields of specialty include Contemporary Spanish Literature, Latin American (Afro-Hispanic) Literature, Literary Theory (Cultural, Gay and Lesbian, Film Studies). 

Lawrence Kokou Adra, Department of Modern Languages, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, larryadra@hotmail.com, Phone: (020) 752-3054 

Lawrence Kokou Adra is a Lecturer at the University of Ghana.

Lillie Vivian Essah, School of International Letters and Cultures, 

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA, lessah@asu.edu, 

Phone: 520-368­-2605

Lillie Essah is a PhD student at Arizona State University. Her research interests include Spanish sociolinguistics, 

specifically Spanish spoken in Equatorial Guinea and among 

Mexican Americans in Phoenix. 

Benedicta Lomotey, Department of Modern Languages, University of Ghana, Legon, adokarley@hotmail.com, Phone: (024) 321-2484

Benedicta Lomotey is Lecturer at the University of Ghana. Her scholarly interests include Language and Literature and Sociolinguistics.

Samuel Mate-Kodjo, Department of Modern Languages, Central College, 812 University, Pella, Iowa, 50219, USA,

matekodjos@central.edu, Phone: 614-628-5128

Samuel Mate-Kodjo is Associate Professor of Spanish at Central College in the United States. His scholarly interests include Literature of Spain, Black Writing in Latin America.  He is the Vice-President of the Ghanaian Association of Hispanists.

Novieto Setor Donné, School of Languages and Cultures, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, NZ, setordon@hotmail.com

Novieto Setor Donné is a PhD candidate in the School of Languages and Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His PhD project is Context Change and Continuity: Pointers from Guillén and Armah.

Dorothy Odartey-Wellington, School of Languages and Literatures, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada, dodartey@uoguelph.ca, 519-824-4120 Ext. 53179

Dorothy Odartey-Wellington is associate professor of Hispanic studies at University of Guelph in Canada. Her current research explores cross-cultural dialogue and transnational identities, within the context of colonization and migration, in African literatures written in Spanish. She is particularly interested in creative expression by writers from Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara. She is the author of Contemporary Spanish Fiction: Generation X (2008) and Equatorial Guinea is Different’: Literatura Colonial de Guinea Española en África Occidental” (2014). She is currently working on the translation into English of Saharawi writer Bahia Mahmud Awah’s memoir La maestra que me enseñó en una tabla de madera (The woman who taught me on a wooden slate). In addition to language and culture courses, she teaches the following graduate and undergraduate seminars: “Moving Continents: Afro-Migrant Narratives in European Languages” and “African Literatures in Spanish: Narratives from Equatorial Guinea, Morocco and the Western Sahara”.

John Teye, Department of English and Foreign Languages,  Delaware State University, 1200 N. DuPont Hwy, Dover, DE 19901, jteye@desu.edu, Phone: 302-857-7897

John Teye is Associate Professor of Spanish at Delaware University in the United States. His research interests include the impact of culture on the learning of foreign languages, English as a Second Language, Sociolinguistics, and Multicultural Education.