Dr. Uchechukwu Umezurike

MA., PHD

Pronouns: He/Him

Positions

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Arts, Department of English

Contact information

uchechukwu.umezurike@ucalgary.ca

Web presence

portfolio website

Phone number

Office: 403-220-4682

Background

Educational Background

Doctor of Philosophy English, University of Alberta, 2021

Masters English, University of Port Harcourt, 2014

Curriculum Vitae

Biography

My research covers the following: Literatures of Africa and the African Diaspora / Postcolonial and Global Literatures / Gender and Sexuality Studies / Masculinity Studies / Cultural Studies / Critical Race Theory / Creative Writing. I write poetry, short fiction, children's novels, and love interviewing writers. I am a co-investigator in the following two projects: SSHRC Partnership Grant on “Transforming Black Lives and Youth in Canada” ($2,500,0000) and UCalgary Transdisciplinary Scholarship Connector Grant on “Conference on African Migration and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Global Perspective” ($8,500). Also, I am a collaborator on CIHR’s Nutrition and Precision Health Equity for Black People in Canada ($20, 000).

Projects

Desiring Home: Blackness, Belonging, and Diaspora in Canada

“Desiring Home” examines how African Canadian writers and filmmakers negotiate the complexities of home in Canada and how the stories they tell enrich our understandings of and problematize what it means to be a Black Canadian.

Masculinity in Nigerian Novels: Receptivity and Gender

This project examines how Nigerian novelists redefine what it means to be a man or a woman by articulating new ways of doing masculinity and challenging a culture that discriminates against its citizens based on sex, gender, or sexual orientation.

In My Father's Absence

This poetry project examines postwar masculinity, trauma, and domestic violence within the micro space of the nuclear family.

Awards

Finalist, Robert Krotesch Award for Poetry, Book Publishers Association of Alberta. 2024
Finalist, Nigeria Prize for Literature, Nigeria LNG Limited. 2024
Grantee, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts. 2023
Finalist, Mary Scorer Award for Best Book, Manitoba Book Awards. 2022
Finalist, Alberta Literary Awards, Alberta Literary Awards. 2022
Grantee, Edmonton Arts Council Grant, Edmonton Arts Council . 2021
Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism , Nigeria LNG Prizes. 2021
Provost’ Awards for Indigenous and Black Scholars, University of Calgary. 2021
Vanier Graduate Scholarship Award, Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships. 2018