2018 SUSI Scholars represent 18 countries

Seattle University welcomes 18 scholars and educators from 18 different countries for four weeks of academic residency and two weeks of study tour for the 2018 Study of the U.S. Institute for Scholars on Contemporary American Literature.

Participants include:

• Megha Adhikari, Nepal
• Stephane Beugre, Cote d'Ivoire
• Miloš Blahut, Slovak Republic
• Tatiana de Freitas Massuno, Brazil
• Fatma Tokoz Goktepe, Turkey
• Asma Dhouioui, Tunisia
• Azzaya Dashzeveg, Mongolia
• Simone Duval, Israel
• Alena Hulevich, Belarus
• Matilda Kechie, Togo
• Ouassila Korichi, Algeria
• Nataliia Liubarets, Ukraine
• Usa Padgate, Thailand
• Mundi Rahayu, Indonesia
• Ruth San-A-Jong, Suriname
• Zeenat Taher, India
• Anita Neira Tiemann, Chile
• Kusi Toh, Cameroon

President Stephen J. Sundborg, SJ; Provost Shane Martin, PhD; and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, David V. Powers, PhD, welcomed participants to Seattle University and the United States.

Raman Khanna, SU alum and Constituent Services Coordinator for Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, delivered a welcoming message from the Congresswoman, who came to the US when she was 16 to attend Georgetown University. An immigrant, civil and human rights advocate, the first South Asian elected to the Washington State Legislature and the only woman of color in the Washington State Senate, she was elected to Congress in 2016. “Literature has often been a driving force for the Congresswoman and has helped her cultivate her understanding of others, and most importantly, of ourselves,” read Mr. Khanna. “What we believe in, why, and the type of person we want to be, can all be attributed to the poetry and literature we consume. The sheer diversity of experiences we are surrounded by in America is the defining quality of what makes our country great.”

He continued, “Our office is committed to values of inclusivity and opportunity for all…Please know that our office is proud to be amongst you to celebrate this openness and to emphasize its importance for the future of all in this room, no matter where you call home.”

Read the full welcome.

This year’s SUSI academic program features a number of overlapping themes:

• Indigenous Perspectives in/as American Literature
• Major Currents and New Directions in American Literature
• Literature and Identity:  Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion
• The Environmental Imagination and America in Deep Time
• Contemporary Art and Creative Writing in the Pacific Northwest and the U.S.
• Technology, New Media, and Post-1945 Fiction and Poetry
• Infrastructure, Diverse Publics, and Frameworks for the Contemporary.

As part of the study tour, SUSI participants will also visit San Francisco/Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.  In these major centers of literary and artistic production, they will visit sites of historical and cultural interest that are important for understanding the work of writers, artists, and thinkers from the mid-twentieth century to the present.

The Study of the U.S. Institute for Scholars on Contemporary American Literature is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the Department of State.