Scholar on Race, Media, Literature to Fill Joint Appointment

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Benjamin Fagan. Photo by Martha Stewart.

The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences has hired Benjamin Fagan to serve as assistant professor in the department of English while also teaching courses in African and African American Studies. His teaching interests include African American literature and culture, late 18^th century American literature and 19^th century American literature, American studies, cultural studies and composition.

“We’re tremendously pleased to have Dr. Fagan joining our department,” said Dorothy Stephens, professor of English and department chair. “He will help us forge a closer relationship with the program of African and African American studies, since he was far and away the top choice both of that program and of our department. His particular areas of expertise will make it easy for us to cross-list most of his courses with African and African American studies.”

Fagan is currently working to expand his dissertation, “The Black Newspaper and the American Nation, 1827-1862,” into a book. His study examines the role of the black press in shaping an identity and society within, but separate from, the United States in antebellum America.

He is also the author of several articles published in journals such as Comparative American Studies and American Periodicals, as well as a collection of essays titled Transnational American Studies.

“Professor Fagan designed and taught ‘African American Literature and the Media’ and ‘Race and Racism,’ while at the University of Virginia,” said Calvin White, assistant professor of history and director of the University of Arkansas African and African American studies program. “We’re excited to have a new colleague with such drive and expertise.”

Fagan has given invited talks across the United States as well as in Dublin, London and Wurzburg, Germany. His papers and presentations examine a variety of topics covered by African American newspapers in the years leading up to emancipation.

"I am thrilled to be joining the University of Arkansas, and excited about working with my new students and colleagues in English and African & African-American studies," said Fagan.

Fagan founded and organized a cultural studies group while studying at the University of Virginia and was the co-organizer of a session entitled “Scriptural Politics: Re-Imagining the Bible in 19^th Century U.S. Culture” at a Society of Nineteenth Century Americanists Conference at Penn State (2010). Fagan was also active in the Graduate English Student Association, holding such positions as mentor, treasurer, and area representative. He served as a research assistant for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation from 2005-2006 where he researched demographics and race on Jefferson’s estate. While there, he designed and implemented an electronic database for the foundation to facilitate access to such records. He also worked as a research assistant for the Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture digital archive.

Fagan holds a bachelor of arts in English from the University of Iowa (2004) and a doctorate in English Language and Literature from the University of Virginia (2011).