Shaden M. Tageldin

Shaden M. Tageldin is a Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota. She also holds the title of Distinguished University Teaching Professor and has served as the founding director of the African Studies Initiative (2014–2018). Her affiliations extend to multiple interdisciplinary programs including Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, and the Journal of Arabic Literature editorial board.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley (2004)
  • A.B. with Honors in English and American Literature, Harvard University (1992)

Research Interests span nineteenth- and twentieth-century literatures in English, Arabic, and French, with a focus on:

• Empire and postcolonial studies
• Critical translation theory
• Trans-African and trans-Asian studies
• Politics of literary form and genre
• Literatures of migration and diaspora

Article Trends reveal her engagement with foundational questions in comparative literature, including:

• How literatures became comparable across Arabic, English, and French
• Colonial and anti-colonial discourse in Ottoman and African contexts
• Translation as an ideological and political tool
• Reimagining Africa's role in global knowledge production

Scientific Awards include:

• 2022–2023 Horace T. Morse – University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award
• 2025 Nineteenth-Century Studies Association Article Prize Honorable Mention for 'Tarjamah'
• 2018 NCSA Article Prize Honorable Mention for 'Hugo, Translated'
• 2017 Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Richard Stein Essay Prize Honorable Mention
• 2013 ACLA Harry Levin Prize Honorable Mention for her first book

Grants and Leadership highlight her work supported by:

• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship
• ACLS Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship
• UMN Institute for Advanced Study Fellowships (2006, 2013, 2022)
• Co-founding the African Studies Initiative (2014–2018)
• Editorial roles at Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature and Comparative Literature