معرفی
Kirk Bryan Sides is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with affiliations in African Cultural Studies and the Center for Culture, History and the Environment. He specializes in African literature, environmental humanities, and speculative fiction, bridging literary analysis with ecological and decolonial thought.
His research explores environmental thinking in African literatures from the 20th century to the present, with a focus on the intersections of ecology, narrative, and decolonization. He is the author of the forthcoming book Environmental Entanglements: African Literature’s Ecological Imaginary (Oxford University Press) and has published in leading journals such as Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry and Critical Philosophy of Race. His work often employs speculative storytelling as a method for engaging with climate change and planetary futures.
The trends in his publications reveal a strong engagement with African ecocriticism, postcolonial environmental justice, and narrative forms that challenge anthropocentric views. His scholarship spans literary analysis, historical inquiry, and pedagogical innovation, particularly through co-creating the 'Anthropocene Storytelling' workshops that use creative narrative to imagine ecological futures.
His scientific awards and recognitions include:
- Futures Fellow, Rachel Carson Center for the Environment and Society (2021)
- Visiting Scholar in Residence, Penn State Humanities Institute (2021)
Kirk has received research funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, and the Brigstow Institute. He is actively involved in interdisciplinary collaboration, serving on the steering committee of the Center for Culture, History and the Environment and on the editorial board of the University of Wisconsin Press. He teaches courses such as 'Literatures of Decolonization' and 'African Environmental Narratives,' contributing to the training of future scholars in critical environmental and postcolonial discourses.
He co-developed the 'Anthropocene Storytelling' workshop series, which has been hosted by institutions including Pennsylvania State University, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the University of Southern California. This initiative uses speculative and creative methodologies to explore environmental precarity and climate change, positioning narrative as a form of ecological knowledge.
