Dr. Abdourahman A. WABERI

The George Washington University
Department of Romance, German, and Slavic Languages and Literatures,
801 22nd St. NW, Philips Hall, Suite 513
2121 Eye St, NW; Washington, DC 20052
Office: PHIL 513G. Phone: (202) 994-6830
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

256 M Street, SW, Washington, 20024 DC
Cellphone: 909-256-9664
Webpage: http://www.abdourahmanwaberi.com



Employment

2012- present     Visiting Professor of Romance Studies, The George Washington University, Washington DC, USA
June-July 2012     Writer-in-Residence, University of Innsbruck, Austria
2010-12    Visiting Professor of French and Africana Studies, Claremont Colleges, California, USA
Spring 2010    William F. Podlich Distinguished Fellow & Visiting Professor of Africana Studies, Claremont McKenna College, California, USA
2010    Writer in Residence, Académie de France à Rome/Villa Médicis, Rome, Italy
Feb-July 2009     Writer in Residence, Centre National du Livre, Montpellier, France
2007-2008    Writer in Residence/Fellow. Susan & Donald Newhouse Center for the Humanities, Wellesley College. USA
2006-2007    Writer-in-Residence. Guest of the DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm 2006, Berlin, Germany
1997-2002         Lecturer.  Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, France
1999-2006        French and English Teacher. Lycée Paul Cornu, Lisieux.                    France
1996-1999    French and English Teacher. Lycée Clement Ader, Bernay, France  



Education

2012    Doctorat en Lettres françaises et francophones (Ph.D), Université de Paris Ouest-Nanterre La Défense. Dissertation: Fragments d’un discours africain.  Approches critique et historique des littératures subsahariennes, francophones et transnationales de 1980 à aujourd’hui
Director: Jean-Marc Moura (Paris Ouest), Co-Chair: Dominic Thomas (UCLA)
1996    Institut Universitaire des Formations des Maîtres (IUFM), Université de Basse-Normandie - Caen, France (Teaching Certificate in French & English). Dissertation: Le tête à texte: Lire, écrire et faire écrire de manière créative en classe de lycée professionnel
1993    Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies (DEA). Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. Field: Postcolonial Literature & Theory. Dissertation: Poetics and Politics in the novels of Nuruddin Farah  
1991    M.A. English Language & Literature, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, France
1988    B.A. English Language & Literature, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, France



Publication

1. Books in original French

Les Enfants de la Balle (11 African Short Stories on The Theme of Football/Soccer, editor). Paris: Lattes, 2010
Passage des larmes (novel). Paris : Lattès 2009. Algerian edition (Chihab, Alger, 2009). Also in English, Spanish & German
Aux Etats-Unis d'Afrique (novel).  Paris: Lattès, 2006.  Babel Actes Sud, paperback edition 2008. Algerian edition (Chihab, Alger, April 2008). Also translated into German, Italian, Portuguese, English and Serbian
Transit (novel), Paris: Gallimard, 2003.  Continents noirs series. Also translated into Italian, English & Serbian
Rift, routes, rails (short stories), Paris: Gallimard, collection Continents noirs, 2001
Moisson de crânes : textes pour le Rwanda.  Paris: Le Serpent à plumes, 2000. Re-issued in paperback: Motifs n°218, 2004). Translated into Italian & German
Les Nomades, mes frères, vont boire à la Grande Ourse (poems), Sarreguemines, France: Editions Pierron, 2000, reissued in 2003
Balbala (novel), Paris, Le Serpent à plumes, 1997. Re-issued in paperback Folio n°3643 by Paris: Gallimard, 2002. Translated into Italian
Cahier nomade (short stories), Paris, Le Serpent à plumes. 1996. Paperback edition in 1999 & 2004. Also in Spanish & German
Le Pays sans ombre (short stories), Paris: Le Serpent à plumes, 1994. Paperback edition in 1997, 2000 & 2006. Also in English, Spanish & German

2. Books translated into English

Transit, a novel translated by David & Nicole Ball, Indiana University Press, Global African Voices Series, 2012
Passage of Tears, a novel ranslated by Nicole and David Ball, Seagull Books, Kalkuta, India/University Press of Chicago, 2011
In The United States of Africa, a novel translated by David & Nicole Ball, The University Press of Nebraska, preface by Percival Everett, 2009
The Land Without Shadows, Short stories. CARAF Books, University Press of Virginia, translated by Jeanne Garane, foreword by Nuruddin Farah, 2005

3. Anthologies (a selection)

“Normand comme Senghor”, Un tour de la France, Stéphane Audeguy (ed), NRF n597, Paris, Gallimard, mai 2011
“Passage of Tears, an excerpt” translated by David and Nicole Ball), Words Without Borders, The Online Magazine for International Literature, January 2011
“Sometime Close to the Start of the Game”, short story, AGNI n72, Boston University, 2011 http://www.bu.edu/agni/fiction/africa/waberi.html
“Rwanda:The Flame of Hope”, Words Without Borders, The Online Magazine for International Literature, October 2009
“In Ben’s Footsteps, an excerpt”, translated by David and Nicole Ball), Words Without Borders, The Online Magazine for International Literature, May 2008
“In the United States of Africa, an excerpt” (translated by David and Nicole Ball) Harper’s, issue of September 2007, pp. 28-30
“An Excerpt from In the United States of Africa” (translated by David Ball with Nicole Ball), Callaloo, vol. 30, no. 3, 2007, pp. 892-866
“In the United States of Africa: An excerpt,” The Literary Review, Spring 2007, Vol 50 no. 2 (French Voices), translated and presented by David and Nicole Ball, pp. 59-79
“Woman and a Half”, An Anthology of the New French African Short Stories, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 2003
“Les soleils d’Azwaw Mammeri,” Nouvelles d’Afrique, Paris: 2003 Gallimard
“Conte de fer , translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Grand Street, n°72 (Detours), A Biannual Literary Magazine, New York. 2002
“Femmes somalies du Canada,” Nouvelles voix d’Afrique, Etonnants voyageurs, Paris: Hoebeke. 2002
“L’homme aux deux tombeaux,” Une enfance outre-mer, Paris: Le Seuil. 2001
“The Dasbiou Mystery,” The Picador Book of African Short Stories, London: Picador. 2000
“August 1966”, translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Grand Street, n°68 (Against Nature), A Biannual Literary Magazine, New York. 2000
“The Gallery of the Insane” (translated by Michael Dash), XCites, The Flamingo Book of New French Writing,Flamingo/HarperCollins, London, UK, 1999


4. Selected Essays

4.1 Peer-Reviewed Academic Articles
“Fragments of an African Discourse: Elements for a New Literary Ecosystem” In Francophone sub-Saharan African Literature in Global Contexts, edited by Alain Mabanckou and Dominic Thomas. Yale French Studies, 2011
“Des immigrés aux artistes africains parisiens: une migration sémantique récente” in Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines, edited by Jean-Loup Amselle, EHESS, Paris, 2010 (198)
“Femmes Somalies du Canada”, Black Renaissance /Renaissance Noire, NYU, Vol. 5 no. 2, 2003, pp. 117-124
“Comment j’ai écrit mes livres (et autres considérations sommaires)”, Modern Languages Notes, vol. 118 (4), Sept. 2003, pp. 933-938
“Organic Metaphor in Two Novels by Nuruddin Farah,” World Literature Today, vol 72, 4 (Autumn 1998), pp. 775-780    

4.2 Other Contributions

“Les cousins de Walter Benjamin” Je est un autre, Michel Le Bris and Jean Rouaud (eds.), Paris: Gallimard, NRF 2010, pp.43-50
“Ecrivains en position d’entraver,” Pour une littérature-monde, Michel Le Bris and Jean Rouaud (eds.), Paris: Gallimard, NRF 2007, pp.67-77
Les Enfants de la postcolonie : esquisse d’une nouvelle génération d’écrivains francophones d’Afrique noire,” Notre Librairie, n°135, Sept-déc.1998, pp. 8-15
“La Fortune des pauvres : précis de littérature somalie,” Notre  Librairie n°126, Paris, avril 1996, pp.40-47. Reprinted in Interculturel Francophonies, n°4, 2004, Alliance française de Lecce/University of Lecce, Italy
Africultures, n°28, “Postcolonialisme: inventaire et débats,” co-edited with Boniface Mongo-Mboussa, Paris, L’Harmattan, May 2000
“Les créateurs somalis face à la guerre civile,” La République des Lettres, Paris, décembre 1996

4.3 Prefaces, tributes

Introduction to Une aiguille nue, by Nuruddin Farah. Alliance des éditeurs indépendants, Terres d’écritures, [France, Suisse, Canada, Burkina Faso, Sénégal, Cote d’Ivoire, Bénin, Mali, Maroc & Cameroun], 2007
“Le siècle Senghor,” Nouvelles Etudes Françaises, CIEF, vol. 21(2), Automne 2006, Lafayette, USA
“Preface,” Culture post-coloniale 1961-2006:Traces et mémoires coloniales en France, Paris. 2003
“Mongo Beti, si près si loin” in Remember Mongo Beti, Bayreuth. African Studies n°67, 2003, Bayreuth, Germany, pp. 109-116



Awards and Honors

Grand prix de la Nouvelle francophone de l’Académie Royale de Langue et de Littérature Française de Belgique – Fondation Henri Cornélus, 1994
Prix Albert Bernard de l’Académie des Sciences d’Outre-mer de Paris, 1994
Grand Prix Littéraire de l’Afrique noire, 1996
Finalist, 1st Prix Littéraire  Unesco-Françoise Gallimard, Paris, 1998
Prix collectif du Festival du Premier roman de Chambéry, France, 1998
Prix biennal « Mandat pour la liberté », PEN CLUB France, 1998
Finalist, The Caine Prize for African Writing (the “African Booker”), 2000
Prix littéraire de la Ville de Caen, France, 2004
Chosen amongst the “50 Writers of Future” by French literary Magazine Lire, May 2005
Stefan-Georg-Preis 2006, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Germany
21st Best French Fiction prize, French Embassy, New York, USA
The most established French Dictionary, Le Petit Robert, devoted an entry to my name and work in its 2007 edition
Nobel Prize winner Jean-Marie G. Le Clézio paid tribute to my work in his speech of reception for his 2008 Nobel Prize Ceremony Award
Pensionnaire de l’Académie de France à Rome, Villa Médicis, Italy



Teaching (most recent courses)

AFR150W ‘New Voices from Africa’ (Literature and film), Claremont McKenna, 2010
AFR 155W ‘Black France’ (literature, film & culture), Claremont McKenna, 2010.
AFR 175W ‘Africana World Cup’ (Literature, culture & Soccer in Africa & the Maghreb), Pomona College/Claremont Colleges, 2010
FR219 ‘Advanced French Creative Writing’, Scripps/Claremont Colleges, 2011.
FR186 ‘Reading & Writing With the Author’ (creative writing in French), Pomona College/Claremont Colleges, 2011
FR3600 ‘Foot d’Afrique’ (literature, culture & soccer in Africa & the Maghreb), George Washington University, 2012
FR 4600 Black France, Colonial/PostColonial’, George Washington University, 2012


Department and College Service

Faculty Advisor, French Major Thesis, Claremont Colleges. 2010-2012
Junior African/African Americanist Search Committee, Claremont College, 2010
Reading Event With Coached Students, Pomona College, Oldenburg Colloquium Center & Department of Romance Languages, April 15, 2010
Reading Event with Coached Students, Claremont McKenna College, Athenauem, March 9, 2010
Organized a visit by the Award Winning South African Novelist and Professor of Creative Writing at Rhodes College Mark Behr, Feb 9, 2010
Organized a visit by Prix Renaudot Winner and Professor of Francophone Literature at UCLA, Alain Mabanckou, April 6, 2010
Co-Organized a visit by Novelist Kebir Ammi (Algeria/Morocco), April 21-22, 2011
Organized a visit by Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne (Columbia), April 10-12, 2012


Most Recent Visiting Professorships and Lectures in the USA

Wednesday, April 11-13, 2012, Guest of Honor, 38th African Literature Association Convention, Southern Methodist University Dallas. Plenary session sponsored by the Francophone Caucus of the ALA

March 17-18, 2011 Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, Guest Speaker, 50th Anniversary of The Ambiguous Adventure, a novel by Cheik Hamidou Kane

November 3-6, 2010, Distinguished International Visitor - University of Wisconsin - Madison. English lecture:Traveling Cultures through Literature and Films in the Classroom. French lecture: ‘Nomadisme, migration et subversion dans l’œuvre de Waberi’.Class visit: Méthodes et théories


Affiliations

Sponsor of Bibliothèques Sans Frontières/Libraries Without Borders, NGO, Paris, 2009-present.
Member of Cultures Sud/Notre Librairie, Club des Lecteurs d’Expression Français, Paris, France
Member of ‘Association pour l’Etude des Littératures Africaines’ (APELA), Paris, France
Editorial Board of Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire. Editor-in-Chief : Manthia Diawara, Africana Studies Program, NYU, USA
Editorial Board of Palabres (Revue d’études africaines), University of  Bayreuth, Germany
Editorial Board of Continents/Riveneuve (revue de creation francophone), Paris, France



Professional Activities

Columnist, weekly contribution, SlateAfrique, Paris, since its foundation in 2011: http://blog.slateafrique.com/cahier-nomade/
Columnist, Lettre International (Berlin, Germany), 2003-present
Jury member of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Dublin, Ireland, 2010
Literary Consultant, Editions Le Serpent à plumes, Paris, France, 1997-2002.
Literary Contributor, Le Monde Diplomatique, Paris, France, 1997-present.
Jury Member of the Lettre International/Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage, Berlin, Germany, 2003 & 2004
Creator and Director of the Soirees Latitudes (panels, readings) at the Cultural Center Senghor, Verson, with the support of the Centre régional des Lettres de Basse-Normandie, 1996-2006




References

Professor Dominic Thomas
University of California at Los Angeles
Department of French & Francophone Studies, Chair
212 Royce Hall, Box 951550
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1550
Tel : (310) 794-8923
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Professor Jean-Marc Moura
Université de Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense
Institut Universitaire de France
Ecole Doctorale Lettres, Langues, Spectacles. Centre de recherches en littératures et poétiques comparées. Bureau L 309.
200 avenue de la République, 92000 Nanterre, France
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Professor Sheila Walker
Scripps College, Psychology
Intercollegiate Department of Africana Studies, Chair
Intercollegiate Department of Black Studies • The Claremont Colleges
647 N. College Way Room #1105 • (909) 607-3070 • Fax: (909) 621-8796
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Professor David Ball, emeritus
French and Comparative Literature, Smith College
Northampton MA 01063 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.literarytranslators.org/ball.html