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Martha J. Nadell
Associate Professor
English
Location: 2305 Boylan Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x3574
Fax: 718.951.4612
Email:
Martha Jane Nadell's first book explores the relations between image and text in African American authored texts during the first half of the 20th century. She is currently at work on a literary and visual history of Brooklyn. Nadell teaches courses in 19th- and 20th-century American literature, African American literature, the graphic novel, Brooklyn in literature and magical realism. She is also involved with one of Brooklyn College's early college high schools, STAR HS. Her activities include fostering curricular alignment between the high school and college and leading professional development seminars about the literature and history of Brooklyn for high school teachers.
Education:
Ph.D., Harvard University - 2000 (History of American Civilization)
A.B., Harvard College - 1989 (Afro-American Studies)
Areas of Expertise:
African American literature, history and visual arts; the Harlem Renaissance; Brooklyn in literary and visual culture; high school/college alignment.
Books and Publications
"A Tree Grows in Bajan Brooklyn: Writing Caribbean New York." Surveying the American Tropics: Literary Geographies From New York to Rio. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2011
"Fire!! and Harlem." The Oxford Critical and Cultural History of Modernist Magazines. Oxford University Press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2011
"Writing Brooklyn." The Cambridge Companion to New York Literature. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2010
"New York City." Oxford Encyclopedia of African-American History. Oxford University Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2008
"Teaching the Visual Arts of the Harlem Renaissance." Teaching the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Peter Lang. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2008
"Alain Locke." Harlem Speaks: A Living History of the Harlem Renaissance. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks MediaFusion. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2007
"Modernism and Race." A Companion to Modernist Literature and Culture. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2006
"From Harlem to Hurston: Miguel Covarrubias's Images of African Americans." Caricaturista Exhibit Guide, by Miguel Covarrubias. Austin, Texas: Humanities Texas. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2005
"Reading for Pleasure." "The Short List," The Chronicle of Higher Education May 6. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2005
Enter the New Negroes: Images of Race in American Culture. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2004
Review of The Ideologies of African American Literature: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Nationalist Revolt, by Robert E. Washington. Ethnic and Racial Studies 26.3, May. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2003
"'Nor Can I Reduce This Experience to a Medium': Race and the Visual Arts in the Work of Jean Toomer." Dream-Fluted Cane: Essays on Jean Toomer and the Harlem Renaissance. Eds. Geneviève Fabre and Michel Feith. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2001
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar. (Grants and Fellowships) 2015
Induction into Brooklyn College's Rho Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. (Awards and Honors) 2010
The Claire Tow Distinguished Teacher Award. (Awards and Honors) 2009
Wolfe Fellowship. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
PSC-CUNY grant, 2006-07. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
PSC-CUNY grant, 2005-06. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Tow Faculty Travel Fellowship, Brooklyn College. (Grants and Fellowships) 2005
Swann Memorial Foundation Fellowship for Cartoon and Caricature, Library of Congress, September 2001-September 2002. (Grants and Fellowships) 2002
Research Activities
New York University FRN Winter Seminar, "Literatures of the Atlantic." 2012
Seminar participant, "Lost New York." Faculty Resource Network, New York University. 2010
New York University FRN Summer Seminar, "Harlem and Its Landmarks: A Physical and Institutional History of the Black Metropolis." 2008
New York University FRN Summer Seminar, "Multiculturalism, Cosmopolitanism and Contemporary New York Writing." 2007
New York University FRN Summer Seminar, "New York City, American Literature and the Cosmopolitan Ideal." 2006
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Enter the New Negroes: Race in Modern American Culture." University of Padova. Padova, Italy. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"Brooklyn on My Mind: The Literature of Gentrification." American Studies Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"Mapping Brooklyn's Fictions: The Cartographic Turn in Literary Studies." American Association of Geographers Annual Conference. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"Toward a Literary History of the Brownstone." Brooklyn Aesthetics Conference. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"Walking the City: Jewish Writing and the Poetics of Place and History." American Jewish History Conference. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"Covarrubias' Caricatures Meet Reiss' Portraits: Locating the Visual Modernism of the Harlem Renaissance." Cultural Mobility and Transcultural Confrontations: Winold Reiss as a Paradigm of Transnational Studies. John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Free University of Berlin and American Academy in Berlin. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"In Search of Ripple Street." American Comparative Literature Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Reading and talk on "Writing Brooklyn." The Bowery Poetry Club. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"A Tree Grows in Bajan Brooklyn: Paule Marshall's Transnational/Multicultural Space." American Tropics: Toward a Literary Geography. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"The Outside, the Block, Dean Street: The Cartographic Impulse in Brooklyn's Literary History." Dreamland Pavilion: Brooklyn and Development Conference. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
Moderator and respondent, Nathan I. Huggins Commemorative Conference. Harvard University. Cambridge, Mass. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"High School and College Faculty Collaborating to Help Students Succeed." Woodrow Wilson Foundation Early College High School Convening. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"Backwards Mapping: Unifying Expectations." Kellogg/ECHS Literacy Network Meeting. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"Enter the New Negroes: Images of Race in American Culture" reading. Wolfe Institute, Brooklyn College. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"The Harlem Renaissance and Beyond in Image and Text." English Department Colloquium, St. John's University. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"The Harlem Renaissance" panel. Harry C. Ransom Center, University of Texas. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"Seeing American Portraiture in Transnational Visual Economies" chairwoman and commenter. American Studies Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
"Staking Claims, Bracing for Conflict: Case Studies in Urban Transformation" commenter. New York Metro American Studies Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2006
Nadell, Martha, Roberta Matthews and Deb Shanley. "Two Worlds Revisited: Assuming New Roles and Responsibilities in College H.S. Partnerships." Teachers for a New Era Network, Second National Meeting, Work in Progress. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
"Portraits and the Harlem Renaissance." Modern Language Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2005
"Public Faces, Private Spaces: The Portrait in the Harlem Renaissance." American Studies Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2005
"Enter Locke's New Negro: The Harlem Renaissance in Word and Image." Temples of Tomorrow: The Harlem Renaissance, New Readings and Contexts. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
"Race, Image, Text: The Crossroads of Southern Road." American Studies Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
Dialogue with Glenn Ligon, Visiting Artists Lecture Series, Art Department, Brooklyn College. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004
Organizer and commenter on "Race, Word and Image in Turn-of-the-Century British and American Culture." Modern Language Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
Panelist, Discussion of Jacob Lawrence, Langston Hughes, Alain Locke and the Harlem Renaissance, Boston University. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004
"Envisioning Violence: Race, Lynching and the Illustrated Text." American Studies Association. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2003
Professional Leadership
English disciplinary council leader/consultant, Woodrow Wilson Foundation for Brooklyn College/STAR High School. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2011
Panelist, "Teaching in Diverse Academic Environments," Career Options Day, Harvard University. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2004
