About Me
I am an Assistant Professor of African American Literature and Culture at the University of Delaware, the former endowed chair of Africana Studies at the University of New Orleans, and a digital archivist. I research and teach courses on 20th and 21st century African American literature, Hip Hop Studies, and the Digital Humanities. I am concurrently working on my first monograph, Books & Beats: The Cultural Kinship of Street Lit and Hip Hop and the Essence Book Project, a computational collection of popular African American Literature. My work has been published in the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the U.S. Journal, Black Perspectives, Cultural Front, and Bloomsbury’s #MeToo and Literary Studies Reading, Writing, and Teaching about Sexual Violence and Rape Culture.
Recent Awards
Dorothy Porter Wesley Fellowship (2021)
The Bibliographical Society of America - Previous Recipients
David Ruggles Prize — Third Place( 2022)
Fine Books & Collections-Bright Young Collectors (2022)
Collecting the African American Experience: Dr. Jacinta R. Saffold
Louisiana Board of Regents- Awards to Louisiana Artists and Scholars (2022)
Jacinta R. Saffold
Curriculum Vitae
Endowed Chair in Africana Studies
University of New Orleans
Department of English and Foreign Languages
2000 Lakeshore Drive
New Orleans, LA 70148
RESEARCH & TEACHING INTERESTS
20th and 21st Century African American Literature
Hip Hop Studies
American Popular Culture Studies
Digital Humanities
Women & Gender Studies
EDUCATION
2017 Ph.D.
W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies
University of Massachusetts Amherst
“Stories Written on Concrete: Understanding and (Re)imagining Street Lit and Culture, 1990-2007” –finalist for Esther Terry Most Distinguished Dissertation award
2014 M.A.
W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies
University of Massachusetts Amherst
2012 B.A.
Department of African American Studies—magna cum laude
Department of Educational Studies
Emory University
“Reading Across the Lines: Comparing Novels of the Black Arts Movement and Black Consciousness Movement”
ACADEMIC TRAINING
2022 Rare Book School at the University of Virginia
Intro to Archives for Special Collections Librarians, Booksellers & Collectors
2022 Rare Book School at the University of Virginia
Digital Approaches to Bibliography and Book History
2021 Rare Book School at the University of Virginia
Intro to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
2021 Rare Book School at the University of Virginia
Why Black Bibliography Matters
2021 Rare Book School at the University of Virginia
African American Print Cultures in the Nineteenth-Century United States
2018 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute
The Book: Material Histories and Digital Futures
Salt Lake Community College; four weeks
2018 Digital Humanities Summer Institute
University of Victoria; British Columbia, Canada
2015 Advanced Feminist Studies Certificate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
2014 African Diaspora Studies Certificate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro American Studies
FELLOWSHIPS & SCHOLARSHIPS
2022 Louisiana Board of Regents- Awards to Louisiana Artists and Scholars (ATLAS)—for writing Books & Beats: The Cultural Kinship of Street Lit and Hip Hop.
2022 Black Book Interactive Program-Digital Publishing Scholar, hosted by the Project on the History of Black Writing at the University of Kansas
2020 Andrew Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography- Junior Fellow
2019 Black Book Interactive Program-Extending the Reach, hosted by the Project on the History of Black Writing at the University of Kansas
2018 Digital Humanities Summer Institute Scholarship, hosted by the University of Victoria Scholarship
2017 Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows Postdoctoral Fellowship, Andrew Mellon Foundation/American Council for Learned Societies (2017-2019)
2016 Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Woodrow Wilson Foundation/Social Science Research Council (2016-2017)
2016 Diversity Fellowship, The Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2015-2016)
2011 Cape Town Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, University of Cape Town
2010 Andrew Mellon-Benjamin Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, Emory University (2010-Present)
RESEARCH GRANTS
2020 National Endowment for the Humanities, Digital Humanities Advancement Grant; Tier II
(100k) to fund The Essence Book Project (Rejected but encouraged to reapply)
2019 Parts to Whole: Collections as Data Grant (50K); Andrew Mellon supported;
to fund The Essence Book Project (Rejected but encouraged to apply to NEH DHAG)
2015 Pre-Doctoral Research Development Grant, Andrew Mellon Foundation/Social Science Research Council
2014 Graduate Enhancement Grant, Andrew Mellon Foundation/Social Science Research Council
2014 Dean of Arts and Humanities Study Abroad Travel Grant, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2013 Graduate Enhancement Grant, Andrew Mellon Foundation/Social Science Research Council
TRAVEL GRANTS & AWARDS
2022 Andrew Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography- Travel Bursary to attend SoFCB New York City Field School
2022 Andrew Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography- Travel Bursary to attend SoFCB induction and Annual Meeting at UCLA Library
2018 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute Stipend
2018 Andrew Mellon Foundation/Social Science Research Council Travel Bursary to attend the Digital Humanities Summer Institute in Victoria, B.C. Canada
2017 Dissertation Research Grant, The Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
2016 Andrew Mellon Foundation/Social Science Research Council Travel Bursary to attend the Digital Humanities in Black Studies Symposium at Purdue University
2015 W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies Conference Travel Grant, University of Massachusetts Amherst
AWARDS AND HONORS
2022 Fine Books & Collections-Bright Young Collectors profile
2022 Inaugural David Ruggles Book Collector of Color Award (third place)
2022 Endowed Chair in Africana Studies; University of New Orleans
2021 Dorothy Porter Wesley Fellowship in Black Critical Bibliography, Bibliographical Society of America
2018 Nomination for Esther Terry Award for Distinguished Dissertations in Afro-American Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2016 National Council for Black Studies Student Paper Award, Charlotte, NC
2012 Magna Cum Laude Senior Thesis, Emory University
2010 Delores P. Aldridge Excellence Award for Leadership and Service, Emory University
DIGITAL HUMANITIES
TBD The HYPE Williams Effect Project; ENGL 6090: Hip Hop’s Literature class project
Published with the Post45 Data Collective. Emory University. (forthcoming)
2019 Black Book Interactive Project-Extending the Reach grant
A rare book archive and digital collection funded by Andrew Mellon and administered by the American Council of Learned Societies
2015 The Essence Book Project; Principal Investigator
PUBLICATIONS
Manuscripts
TBD Books & Beats: The Cultural Kinship of Street Lit and Hip Hop. (In progress)
2017 Stories Written on Concrete: Understanding and (Re)imagining Street Lit and Culture, 1990-2007. University of Massachusetts Amherst (Dissertation)
Peer Review Articles
TBD “Money. Men. Power. Subjection and Subjugation in The Coldest Winter Ever.” College Language Association Journal (Revising and Resubmitting)
2023 “The Bridge Street Lit Built.” African American Literature in Transition; 1990-2000 (forthcoming)
2021 “Pricing Black Girl Pain: The Cost of Black Girlhood in Street Lit.” #MeToo and Literary Studies: Reading, Writing, and Teaching about Sexual Violence and Rape Culture. Bloomsbury Academic
2019 “Literature Brave Enough to Fuck with the Grays: Hip-Hop, Black Feminism, and Street Lit.” Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip Hop Culture
2019 “Hip Hop Print Culture: An Interview with Omar Tyree.” Words. Beats. Life: The Global Journal of Hip Hop Culture
2018 “Stories Not to Pass On: Collective Material Cultural Memory in 21st Century Urban Literature.” MELUS; Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
Public Scholarship
TBD “The HYPE Williams Effect Project: Data Explained” Public Books (forthcoming).
2022 “Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: Author Talk Back with Alice Walker and Jacinta R. Saffold” Sponsored by the Black Women’s Studies Association.
2022 “The Toni-Terry Problem with Black Books: A Conversation with Essence Bestsellers’ Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant” Cosponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America and the Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlrZ40WuU5s.
2021 “Black Bestselling Books & Bibliographical Concerns: A Conversation Between Kinohi Nishikawa and Jacinta R. Saffold” Sponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America; https://youtu.be/bhtOYkHabbA.
2020 “Celebrating 50 Years of Essence as a Black Women’s Archive” Black Perspectives (July 1, 2020)
2018 “Knowing When to Leave: Lessons from an Academically Unaffiliated Life.” The Professor Is In. (August 30, 2018)
2018 “The Heavy Lifting of Diversity: A Need for Scholar Administrators.” Metropolitan Universities Journal (January 2018)
2018 “Street Lit as an Economic Backbone of African American Lit: A Data Project.” Cultural Front: A Notebook on Literary Art, Digital Humanities, and Emerging Ideas (April 30, 2018)
2017 “The Horror of Black Psychological Trauma: How ‘Get Out’ Tackles Black Psychological Trauma.” Blavity.com (February 28, 2017)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Undergraduate Instruction
2022 ENGL 4092/5092: #BlackVoicesMatter: African American Literary Responses to Enduring Injustices (online); University of New Orleans (Spring)
2021 ENGL 2072: The Survey of African American Literature II (online); University of New Orleans (Spring)
2021 ENGL 2072: Survey of African American Literature I (online); University of New Orleans (Fall)
2021 ENGL 4092: #BlackVoicesMatter: African American Literary Responses to Enduring Injustices (online); University of New Orleans (Spring)
2020 ENGL 2071: Survey of African American Literature I (online); University of New Orleans (Fall)
2020 ENGL 2091: Watching the Wire: America’s Other Story (online); University of New Orleans (Fall)
2020 ENGL 4093: Black Women Writers; University of New Orleans (Fall)
2020 ENGL 2071: Survey of African American Literature I (online); University of New Orleans (Summer)
2020 ENGL 2072: Survey of African American Literature II (hybrid); University of New Orleans (Spring)
2019 ENGL 4093: Black Women Writers; University of New Orleans (Fall)
2018 PAS 405/ENG 412: 20th & 21st Century Black Women Writers, Lincoln University (Fall)
2015 AAS 151: #BlackVoicesMatter: African American Literary Responses to Enduring Injustices, Continuing Education Course (online); University of Massachusetts (Spring)
Graduate Teaching Instruction
2022 ENGL 6390: Womanism, Black Feminism & Other Ways of Knowing (online); University of New Orleans (Spring)
2021 ENGL 6090: Black Romance in Popular Imagination (online); University of New Orleans (Fall)
2021 ENGL 6090: Hip Hop’s Literature (online); University of New Orleans (Spring)
2021 ENGL 5092: #BlackVoicesMatter: African American Literary Responses to Enduring Injustices (online); University of New Orleans (Spring)
2020 ENGL 5093: Black Women Writers; University of New Orleans (Fall)
2020 ENGL 6007: #BlackVoicesMatter: Literary Responses to Enduring Injustices; University of New Orleans (Spring)
2019 ENGL 6280: Introduction to Graduate Studies in English; University of New Orleans (Fall)
2019 ENGL 5093: Black Women Writers; University of New Orleans (Fall)
GRADUATE COMMITTEES
Masters’ in English, Alyssa Anders; Portfolio
Masters’ in English, Jenna McKenna; Portfolio
Masters’ in Fine Arts, Keyoka Kinzy; Wilting Magnolias
Masters’ in English, Jamie Overton; Portfolio
Masters’ in Fine Arts, Kierra “Swiss” McCall; The Gravel in Her Voice
Masters’ in Fine Arts, Carmin Wong; Language of Empire
Masters’ in English, Trey Guillory; Portfolio
Masters’ in English, Renee Vincent; Weathering the Storm: Black Maternal Mortality and Power
in Richard Wright’s “Down by The Riverside,” Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones
SERVICE TO THE DEPARTMENT/UNIVERSITY
Graduate Advisory in English Committee
Multiethnic Literatures of the United States Conference Host Committee
Experiential Learning ad hoc committee
SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION
2022 Executive Board member for Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
2022 Nominating Committee for the Bibliographical Society of America
2018 Co-Founder of the Black Women’s Studies Association
2018 Proposal Reviewer for the 2018-2019 Paul P. Fidler Research Grant
2018 Associate editor for the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
2018 Gap Year Mentor & Coach
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Gap Assistance Program
2017 Proposal Reviewer, Diversity, Learning, and Student Success Conference hosted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (2017-2019)
2017 Associate Director for Diversity, Equity, and Student Success, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Washington, D.C. (2017-2019)
2017 Modern Language Association Annual Convention Volunteer
2015 Director for Recruitment in the Department of Enrollment Management at Howard University (2015-2016)
2014 Graduate Instructor and Mentor
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Emory/UNCF Programs Summer Institute
CONFERENCE ACTIVITY
2022 “Network Analysis in the Humanities” Roundtable
American Literature Association Conference
2019 “Hustling Books: Black Independent Publishing in Street Lit”
Panel Submission (Organizer)
American Studies Association Conference
2019 “Pricing Black Girl Pain: The Cost of Black Girlhood in Street Lit.”
Featured Panel Presentation (Presenter)
Modern Language Association Conference
2018 Self-Visioning and Space Making: The Sista Scholar Collectiv
Roundtable Submission (Co-organizer)
National Women’s Studies Association Conference
2018 Creating a Culture of Equity
Mini Workshop (Presenter)
Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities
2018 Operating in the Black: Quantifying Black Literature with Digital Tools
Panel Submission (Organizer)
African American Digital Humanities at the University of Maryland-Intentionally Digital, Intentionally Black Conference
2018 Hip Hop in Print: How Technology Changed the Black Literary Landscape
Panel Submission
College Language Association Conference
2017 “Gender and Geospatial Fictive Belongings: African American Popular Fiction in Urban Space”
Panel Submission
College Language Association Conference
2016 Digital Humanities in Black Studies Symposium
Social Science Research Council invited attendee
Purdue University
2016 “Making #BlackGirlMagic in the Academy: Creating Sistagirl Solidarity”
Roundtable Presentation
National Women’s Studies Association Conference
2016 “Engaging the Myth, Complicating the Stereotype: Young Black Women Characters in Contemporary African American Popular Fiction”
Single paper submission
National Women’s Studies Association Conference
2016 “Stories Not to Pass On: Material Cultural Memory in 21st Century Urban Literature”
Single paper submission
Association for the Study of African American Life and History Conference
2015 “Literature Brave Enough to Fuck with the Grays: Hip-Hop Feminism and Street Lit”
Single paper submission
Association for the Study of African American Life and History Conference
2015 Blackness in Africa and the African Diaspora: Race and the Imposition of Deviance
Conference Coordinator & Introductory Speaker
Inaugural Du Bois Department Graduate Organization Conference
2014 “Flyy Girls and Bad Bitches: Street Lit and Hip-Hop Feminism”
Single paper submission
University of Massachusetts Advanced Feminist Certificate Conference
2014 “Diversity and Success: MMUF Scholars”
Pre-conference Mentor’s Panel Presenter
United Negro College Fund/Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Mentor’s Conference
2014 “Scenes of Subjection and Subjugation in Sister Souljah’s The Coldest Winter Ever”
Single paper submission
Social Science Research Center Student Summer Conference
2014 “Finding A Ghetto Utopia: Understanding Omar Tyree’s Flyy Girl”
Single paper submission
University of Massachusetts Amherst English Graduate Organization Conference
2014 “Finding A Ghetto Utopia: Understanding Omar Tyree’s Flyy Girl”
Panel submission
National Council of Black Studies
2011 “Reading Across the Lines: Understanding The Spook Who Sat by the Door”
Single paper submission
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Southeastern Regional Conference
2011 “Maryse Condé and Margaret Walker: Retrieving the Grandmother”
Co-presenter
14th Annual “islands-in-between” Conference: Language, Literature, & Culture of the Eastern Caribbean
2011 “Reading Between the Lines: An exploration of the similarities and differences in literature during the Black Arts Movement in the United States and the Black” Consciousness Movement in South Africa
Poster presentation
Emory College of Arts and Sciences Annual Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium
INVITED TALKS
2022 Diversity in Publishing Roundtable
Sponsored by Louisiana State University Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, Red Sticks Reads and Cavalier House for Louisiana’s Annual Book Festival
2022 How Black Women Use Books for Labor and Leisure: Notes from the Essence Book Project
A Gallier Gathering Lecture hosted by the Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses
2022 Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: A Conversation with Alice Walker (digital interview)
Requested by Simon & Schuster and sponsored by the Black Women’s Studies Association
2021 Kitchen Table Talk: The State of Black Women’s Studies (digital roundtable)
Co-sponsored by the National Women’s Studies Association and the Black Women’s Studies Association
2020 Operating in the Black: A Computational Archive and the Black Digital Turn
Black Book Interactive Program-Extending the Reach Scholars program (delivered as webinar due to Covid-19)
2019 Newly Minted PhDs MMUF Roundtable
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program/UNCF Programs Summer Institute
2018 Commencement Keynote Address: Graduating African American Studies Majors
Emory University
2018 Commencement Keynote Address: Graduating Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows
Emory University
2016 Invited Panelist: Outstanding Humanities and Fine Arts Student, New Graduate Student Orientation, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2016 Invited Panelist: Inaugural Summer Research Enhancement and Leadership Fellows Orientation, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2015 Invited Panelist: New Graduate Student Orientation; University of Massachusetts Amherst
2014 Guest Lecturer, Sociology in Crime; University of Massachusetts Amherst
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
American Council of Learned Societies
Association for the Study of African American Life and History (Life Member)
Association of Black Women Historians (Life Member)
Bibliographical Society of America
Black Women Studies Association (Co-founder)
College Language Association (Life Member)
Modern Language Association
National Council of Black Studies
National Women Studies Association
REFERENCES UPON REQUEST