
Dominic Thomas
Madeleine L. Letessier Professor
Dominic Thomas is Madeleine L. Letessier Professor in the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies. He is CNN/CNN International European Affairs Commentator, and author, co-author, editor or co-editor of works on contemporary African and European culture and politics, including Black France (2007), Museums in Postcolonial Europe (2010), La France noire (2011), Francophone sub-Saharan African Literature in Global Contexts (2011), Africa and France (2013), Racial Advocacy in France (2013), Colonial Culture in France since the Revolution (2014), Francophone Afropean Literatures (2014), Afroeuropean Cartographies (2014), The Invention of Race (2014), The Charlie Hebdo events and their aftermath (2016), Vers la guerre des identités (2016), The Colonial Legacy in France (2017), Global France, Global French (2017), Sexe et colonies (2018), Sexualités, identités, et corps colonisés (2019), and Visualizing Empire: Africa, Europe, and the Politics of Representation (2021). Scholarly articles and essays have appeared in journals such as Modern Languages Notes, French Forum, Research in African Literatures, Occasion, French Cultural Studies, and Contemporary French Civilization. He edits the Global African Voices series at Indiana University Press that focuses on translations of African literature into English, and has translated works by Aimé Césaire, Sony Labou Tansi, Alain Mabanckou, Emmanuel Dongala, and Abdourahman Waberi. He has held fellowships, residencies, and visiting professorships in Australia, France, Germany, Mali, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He was elected to the Academy of Europe in 2015 and promoted to the rank of Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 2016.
Education
- PhD, Yale
Featured Works
Selected Publications
Books
- Nation-Building, Propaganda and Literature in Francophone Africa. Indiana University Press, 2002.
- Black France: Colonialism, Immigration, and Transnationalism.Indiana University Press, 2007.
- Africa and France: Postcolonial Cultures, Migration, and RacismIndiana University Press, 2013.
- Noirs d’encre. Colonialisme, immigration et identité au cœur de la littérature afro-française.Paris: Editions La Découverte, 2013.
Co-authored books
- New Francophone African and Caribbean Theatres.With John Conteh-Morgan. Indiana University Press, 2010.
- La France noire. Trois siècles de présences. With Pascal Blanchard, Sylvie Chalaye, Éric Deroo and Mahamet Timera. Paris: Editions La Découverte, 2011.
- La France noire. Présences et migrations des Afriques, des Amériques et de l’Océan Indien en France. With Pascal Blanchard, Sylvie Chalaye, Éric Deroo and Mahamet Timera. Paris: Editions La Découverte, 2012.
- Like a Misunderstood Salvation and Other Poems by Aimé Césaire. Translated and introduced with Annette Smith. Northwestern University Press, 2013.
Edited books
- Museums in Postcolonial Europe. London and New York: Routledge, 2010.
- A Companion to Comparative Literature.With Ali Behdad. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, 2011.
- Colonial Culture in France since the Revolution. With Nicolas Bancel, Pascal Blanchard and Sandrine Lemaire. Indiana University Press, 2013.
- Afroeuropean Cartographies. Cambridge Scholastic Publishing, 2014.
- Francophone Afropean Literatures. With Nicki Hitchcott. University of Chicago / Liverpool University Press, 2014.
- The Invention of Race: Scientific and Popular Representations. With Nicolas Bancel and Thomas David. London and New York: Routledge, 2014.
- L’invention de la race. With Nicolas Bancel and Thomas David. Paris: Editions La Découverte, 2014
- Vers la guerre des identités. De la fracture coloniale à la révolution ultranationale. With Pascal Blanchard and Nicolas Bancel. Paris: Editions La Découverte, 2016.
- The Colonial Legacy in France: Fracture, Rupture, and Apartheid.With Pascal Blanchard and Nicolas Bancel. Paris: Indiana University Press, 2017.
- Sexe, race et colonies. With Pascal Blanchard, Nicolas Bancel, Gilles Böetsch, and Christelle Taraud. Paris: Éditions La Découverte, 2018.
- Visualizing Empire: Africa, France, and the Politics of Representation. With Steven Nelson and Rebecca Peabody. Getty Research Insititute Books, 2021.
Edited journals
- Francophone Studies: New Landscapes.With Françoise Lionnet. Modern Language Notes 4 (September 2003).
- Textual Ownership in Francophone African Literature. With Alec G. Hargreaves and Nicki Hitchcott. Research in African Literatures1 (Spring 2006).
- Global Francophone Africa. Forum for Modern Language Studies2 (April 2009).
- Museums in Postcolonial Europe. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal2 (July 2009).
- Francophone Documentary Film.With Philippe Met. Special double edition of French Forum 2-3 (Spring/Fall 2010).
- Francophone sub-Saharan African Literature in Global Contexts. With Alain Mabanckou. Yale French Studies120 (2011).
- Racial Advocacy in France. French Cultural Studies2 (May 2013).
- The Charlie Hebdo Attacks and Their Aftermath. With Cécile Alduy and Bruce Cornellier. OCCASION, Volume 9 (2015).
- Global France, Global French. With Leslie Barnes. Special issue of Contemporary French Civilization, Volume 42, Issue 1 (April 2017).
Translations
- Alain Mabanckou. The Tears of the Black Man (Le Sanglot de l’Homme Noir). Indiana University Press, Global African Voices series (2018).
- Emmanuel Dongala. Jazz and Palm Wine (Jazz et vin de palme). Indiana University Press, Global African Voices series (2017).
- Abdourahman Waberi. Harvest of Skulls (Moisson de crânes). Indiana University Press, Global African Voices series (2017).
- Sony Labou Tansi. The Shameful State (L’état honteux). Indiana University Press, Global African Voices series (2016).
Fellowships, Residencies and Other Appointments
- Visiting Fellow, CRASSH, Cambridge University, U.K., 2004
- Visiting Professor, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, France, 2009
- Invited Researcher, Musée Quai Branly, Paris, France, 2010
- German-American Fulbright Commission Award (Germany and Belgium), 2011
- Inaugural Magnet Scholar, Amherst Five-College Faculty Seminar, April 2011
- Research Professor, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, 2011-2012
- Visiting Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 2015
- Distinguished Foreign Visiting Scholar, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, 2015
- Visiting Scholar, Faculty Enhancement Program, University of Montana, March 2016
Honors & Awards
- Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, French government, 2016
- Elected to the Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea), September 2015
- German-American Fulbright Commission Award (Germany and Belgium), 2011
- Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, French government, 2007
Editor
- Global African Voices book series, Indiana University Press: http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/index.php?cPath=1037_3130_9764