Magdalena Zaborowska

Magdalena Zaborowska is a Professor and Chair of the Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan, holding a joint appointment in Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS). She specializes in African American literary and cultural studies, with a focus on intersections of race, gender, (queer) sexuality, and transatlantic discourses. Her research explores James Baldwin’s works, critical race theory, and post-totalitarian East-Central Europe. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon (1992) and an M.A. from Warsaw University (1987).

Her notable projects include the digital humanities initiative Archiving the Invisible House: James Baldwin’s Virtual Writer’s Museum and collaborations like the Chez Baldwin exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. She also co-founded the Borderland Foundation in Poland, promoting multiculturalism in Eastern Europe.

• Awards:
  • 2009 William Sanders Scarborough Prize
  • 2009-2010 Hunting Family Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities
  • Errol Hill Award Honorable Mention (2014)
• Labs/Teams:
  • James Baldwin Project (https://www.jamesbaldwinproject.org/)
  • Borderland Foundation (Sejny, Poland)