Kameelah L. Martin, Ph.D.

Learn more about Dr. Martin

• Education 

  Ph.D., African American Literature & Folklore, Florida State University
  M.A., Afro-American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
  B.A., English, Georgia Southern University

   

• Research Interests

  Dr. Martin's research explores the lore cycle of the conjure woman, or Black priestess, as an archetype in literature and visual texts. Other areas of interest include the evolution of 20th century Black folk heroes, the fiction of Tina McElroy Ansa, Gullah Geechee heritage and culture, African American genealogical research and the writing of family histories.

• Courses Taught

  Introduction to African American Studies
  Folklore and the African Diaspora

• Selected Publications 

  Dr. Martin is the author of a number of works, including "Conjuring Moments in African American Literature: Women, Spirit Work, & Other Such Hoodoo," (Palgrave McMillan, 2013), about how African American authors have shifted, recycled and reinvented the conjure woman figure primarily in twentieth century fiction; "Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics: African Spirituality in American Cinema," (Lexington, 2016), which explores the priestess figure in American cinema. She co-edited "The Lemonade Reader," an academic look at the work of pop icon Beyoncé (2019).

• Honors & Awards 

  2018: College of Charleston Faculty Research & Development Award

  2017: College Language Association Book Award for Creative Scholarship

  2017: Summer Scholar, National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on “Recognizing an Imperfect Past: History, Memory, & the American Public,” Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Ga.

  2017-18: University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women & Gender, Feminist Research Seminar Grant, 2017-18

  2016: Savannah State University President's Faculty Development Mini-grant Initiative

  2015-16: Fulbright-Hays Participant, U.S. Dept. of Education Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (Ghana)

  2014-15: Georgia Southern University Alumni Association 40 Under 40 Alumni Award

  2013: University of Houston African American Studies Program Faculty Development Grant

  2013: University of Houston African American Studies Program Faculty Travel Award

  2012: Summer Scholar, National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on Contemporary African American Literature, Pennsylvania State U., State College, Pa.

  2012: University of Houston African American Studies Program Faculty Travel Award

  2011: Georgia State University Dept. of English Summer Research Enhancement Grant

  2009-10: National Council for Black Studies Cutting-Edge Gender Research Grant

  2009: Georgia State University Writing Across the Curriculum Intensive Writing Course Development Grant

  2008: "Critical Approaches to Teaching African American Literature." Co-sponsorship for the Georgia Humanities Council Conversations among Partners in Learning Program

  2007-08: Georgia State University Research Initiation Grant

  2007: Georgia State University Dept. of English Summer Research Enhancement Grant

  2006-07: Florida State University Dept. of English J. Russell Reaver Award for Outstanding Dissertation in American Literature or Folklore

  2004-05: Florida State University Dept. of English George Harper Award for Outstanding Graduate Critical Writing

  2005: National Council for Black Studies Graduate Student Essay Contest, Second Place

  2004: Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowships for Minorities Alternate/Hon. Mention

  2003: National Council for Black Studies Graduate Student Essay Contest, Second Place

  2002-03: UCLA Center for African American Studies Archive Mentorship Fellowship

  2001-02: UCLA Graduate Opportunity Fellowship

• Press and Media