Education
PhD in English, City University of New York (CUNY)
MA in English, Hunter College, CUNY
DIPES II, English Education, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon
Masters in Librarianship, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth
BA in Modern English Studies, University of Yaoundé, Cameroon
Joyce Ashuntantang is a professor of English. She teaches many of the department's classes, including Literature Across Cultures, African American Literature, and Survey of Minority Writers.
"Small class sizes put every Hillyer student in a 'front row' seat and as a result I get to know each student as an individual with his/her own needs and talents," she says.
Ashuntantang's research interests include:
- African literature and film
- Oral African literature
- African textual/bibliographic studies
- African American literature and culture
Joyce Ashuntantang has teamed up with Eric Chinje, an accomplished international communication expert, to produce Lockdown Chronicles: A Journey Through Memory. The poignant book comprises a collection of letters exchanged during the pandemic lockdown in the United States between the two distinguished Cameroonians, Ashuntantang and Chinje.
“Maybe it was the boredom from the confinement or the fear of impending doom, but three months into the lockdown, Eric and I decided to confront the existential questions that were swirling inside us,” Ashuntantang shares. “The epistolary medium allowed us to be intentional about documenting our reflections and the space to do so in a convivial manner. However, once we started, the letters took on their own life, capturing fragments of our memoir, our search for purpose in life, and socio-political commentary on various subjects, including grief, faith, and mortality.
“By the time our friendly COVID-19 lockdown activity was over, we had exchanged over 26,000 words. The plan was not to publish these letters. Still, after reviewing them, we decided to add our unique pandemic experience in the public domain to help achieve what Chinua Achebe calls "a balance of stories."
“Chinua Achebe” in Blackwell’s The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Literature edited by Henry Schwartz and published by Blackwell Publishers. 2016.
“Anglophone Cameroon Literature 1959-1990: A Brief Overview” Tydskrif vir Letterkunde (Journal for Literature) Vol. 53:1 (2016): 109-127.
“Publishing and Digital Dissemination of Creative Writing in Cameroon.” The Book in Africa: Critical Debates. Eds. Davis, Caroline and David Johns. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
“For Common Corn: Echoing Bole Butake’s concerns in Lake God, The Survivors, and And Palm Wine Will Flow” in Re-greening Africanscapes: Ecology and the African Imagination. Ed. Tanure Ojaide and Ogaga Okuyada. African Heritage Press, 2013.