Agenda

Interview (Kedon Willis)

1. Please provide a brief outline of your training and scientific activity.

I have a BA in Journalism (Ithaca College), an MFA in Creative Writing (Virginia Tech), and a PhD in English Language and Literature (University of Florida). I am currently an assistant professor of English at the City College of New York (CCNY) where I teach graduate and undergraduate courses in Caribbean and Latin American literature. I also teach creative writing. My research focuses on contemporary literature from different language regions in the Caribbean through the lenses of postcolonial, queer, and environmental theory.

2. Please state your reasons for choosing Venice and the Department for your research and teaching stay.

I am currently director of the mobility programme at CCNY related to the European Joint Master’s Programme in English and American Studies. The Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies (DSLCC) at Ca’Foscari is a partner in this programme. Through my teaching stay, I aim to learn more about the academic environment and pedagogical approaches at the DSLCC. The experience I gain will help me better serve the international students, such as those from Ca’Foscari, who will visit CCNY in the future to fulfil their mobility requirements. I also expect to gain helpful knowledge from the exchange of ideas with DSLCC faculty members who are engaging in research different from my own.

3. Have you ever had a research collaboration with the teaching staff of Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies in the past?

No. But I visited the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies for two weeks in May 2022 as part of an Erasmus+ staff mobility. During that visit, I lectured as a guest in several classes.