Alicia Kent’s Webpage

Welcome to my homepage!

I am an assistant professor of English at the University of Michigan at Flint, specializing in African American and multicultural literatures. Courses I teach:

Survey of African American Literature

Introduction to American Ethnic Literatures: What Is America?

Modern Native American Literatures

America as the Contact Zone (Major Themes in Multi-Ethnic Literatures)

The Role of the Past in the Present (Major Themes in Multi-Ethnic Literatures)

Major Novelists: Hurston and Wright

Senior Seminar: The Harlem Renaissance

Elements of Literary Analysis

Before coming to Flint, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. I earned my Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focusing on twentieth century multicultural American literatures. Before going to grad school, I was a reporter at a daily newspaper in California and then did public relations work.

Why I teach multicultural literatures:

	I'm really interested in the diversity of cultures that make up American society and the variety of literary expressions that this multiculturalism has created. Central to my teaching is the goal of challenging the prescribed literary canon. I'm also interested in critically examining the historical roots of inequalities in American society and exploring ways of making social change.
“America’s Changing Colors”
Time, Aug. 9, 1990	To me, literature allows us to step outside our own limited experiences and travel into other worlds. There is a libratory aspect to literature because it allows us, at least for a short time, to see things through someone else's eyes, to challenge our own assumptions, and to see the world from different perspectives.

My research interests:

My current research focuses on modernity and genre choice in early twentieth century literature by African Americans, Native Americans, and Jewish Americans. I’m interested in the interconnections among these three cultural groups, who are all experiencing the modern era as a moment of heightened migration and intercultural contact. My academic publications include “Mourning Dove’s Cogewea: Writing Her Way into Modernity,” MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, Fall 1999; and “Native American Feminist Criticism in the Contact Zone” Northwest Review, September 1997.

Jacob Lawrence “…And the Migrants Kept Coming” Fortune, November 1941

Info about me	Contact Info
Curriculum Vitae	aakent@umflint.edu
Department Info	Phone: 810-762-3285 Fax: 810-237-6666
	University of Michigan-Flint Department of English 326 French Hall 303 E. Kearsley St. Flint, Michigan 48502-1950

University Quick Links	Resources
University of Michigan-Flint	Indian Country Today (newspaper by and about Native Americans), www.indiancountry.com
University of Michigan-Flint Disclaimer	New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/
University of Michigan-Flint Online Courses	African American Literature Timeline, http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/bailey/aframlit.htm