Dr. Selamawit D. Terrefe

Selamawit D. Terrefe is Assistant Professor of African American literature and culture in the Department of English at Tulane University where she also holds affiliations with the Africana Studies Program and the Stone Center for Latin American Studies. Broadly speaking, Terrefe’s work examines the effects of violence on the psychic life of Black people; hence, her research questions focus on radical and revolutionary political movements, theories, and creative practices engaged by Black diasporic communities in the wake of continued racial animus.

The timeliness, public resonance, and significance of Terrefe’s scholarship has garnered international recognition. Prior to her position at Tulane, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship in Black Atlantic Studies at the University of Bremen, Germany. Her training in the United States, teaching of African diasporic thought and culture in a transnational context, and interdisciplinary background in Black studies, psychoanalysis, critical theory, and gender politics earned her a multi-year fellowship and her current research continues to engage and press the boundaries of Black Critical Theory.