Aretha Phiri

Aretha Phiri is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Rhodes University. She holds a BA (Hons) and MA from Rhodes University and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. Her academic roles include coordinating undergraduate courses, serving on the University Senate, and contributing to institutional committees like the Plagiarism Committee and Humanities Faculty Research Committee.

Phiri's research critically examines race, gender, sexuality, and identity in American, African-American, and Afrodiasporic literature. She focuses on transnational narratives, post-apartheid South African literature, and the intersections of cultural, ethnic, and gendered subjectivities. Her work bridges realist and postmodernist traditions, poetry, and short stories.

Her publications emphasize reparative justice, diasporic identity, and decolonial perspectives across African and Black Atlantic contexts. Recurring themes include the politics of race in literature, queer subjectivities, and the evolution of Afrodiasporic narratives in global frameworks.

Awards and Fellowships:

• NRF Y-1 Rated Researcher (2019–present)
• Kluge Fellow, Library of Congress (2022–2023)
• STIAS Iso Lomso Fellow (2017–2019)
• Visiting Fellowships: National Humanities Center (2018), Institute for Black Atlantic Research (2018), Centre for the Study of International Slavery (2018)

Phiri engages extensively with academic communities as an external examiner (University of Cape Town), editorial board member (Safundi, English in Africa), and affiliate of organizations like the African Feminist Initiative and British Association for American Studies. She also contributes to public discourse through media platforms like The Conversation and BBC World Service.