معرفی
Jonathan Highfield is an Associate Professor of English at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he teaches a wide range of courses in colonial and postcolonial literatures within the Department of Literary Arts and Studies. He holds advanced degrees from the University of Iowa and maintains an active research profile focusing on the intersections of food, culture, and postcolonial identity.
His educational background includes a BA from Transylvania University, followed by an MA and PhD from the University of Iowa, which provided the foundation for his scholarly work in postcolonial literary studies.
Highfield's research interests center on the intersection of postcolonial studies, foodways, and ecocriticism. He examines how food functions as a cultural marker, community builder, and site of resistance in African narratives. His work explores how literary representations of food reveal complex relationships between colonialism, globalization, environmental sustainability, and cultural identity. He approaches texts like Moby Dick through the lens of global capitalist systems and social relations, demonstrating how literature reflects historical economic structures and social dynamics.
His publications reveal a consistent focus on African literature and the ways food systems intersect with colonial histories and contemporary global dynamics. Highfield's work spans book-length studies, journal articles, and book chapters that examine food sovereignty, biopiracy, cultural heritage, and environmental justice through literary analysis. His scholarship demonstrates how food narratives serve as powerful vehicles for expressing cultural identity and resistance to neocolonial exploitation.
As a creative writer himself, Highfield has published poetry in venues like The Innisfree Poetry Journal and The New Review, with his poem "PALETTE" exploring themes of memory, perception, and cultural change through the metaphor of childhood crayons.
Highfield maintains an active research profile as a senior research member of Critical African Studies housed at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, demonstrating his international scholarly engagement. His publications appear in numerous academic journals including Antipodes, Atlantic Studies, Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, and The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability.
Based in North Scituate, Rhode Island, Highfield integrates his scholarly work with personal interests in gardening and cooking, using vegetables from his own garden—a practice that reflects his academic interest in foodways and their connection to cultural identity and sustainability.
