Augusta Atinuke Irele

Augusta Atinuke Irele is a William Fontaine Fellow in Africana Studies and Comparative Literature & Literary Theory at the University of Pennsylvania's College of Arts & Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in Africana Studies and Comparative Literature (2020) and previously served as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the African American and African Studies Department at Ohio State University. Prior to academia, she worked as a youth worker and educator in Boston and New York, focusing on college access initiatives.

• Education:
• B.A. in Comparative Literature and French & Francophone Studies from Bryn Mawr College (Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, Posse Scholar)

Her research examines contemporary diasporic dynamics at the intersection of African-American and African literary studies, analyzing how 21st-century novels and music reimagine Africa's global cultural identity. Key interests include cosmopolitanism, Afropolitanism, and Migritude frameworks. She serves as Graduate Coordinator for Penn’s Mellon Mays program and participates in the Fontaine Coordinating Committee.

Awards: Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, Posse Scholarship.

Advising/Leadership: Oversees the Mellon Mays program at Penn, supporting underrepresented scholars in humanities.

Professional Affiliations: Member of the Fontaine Coordinating Committee within the University of Pennsylvania's Africana Studies program.