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Department of English

Dr. Christopher De Santis

Professor of African American and American Literature
English
Office
Stevenson Hall - STV 338
Office Hours
By appointment
Office Phone
(309) 438-3667office
phone
Email
ccdesan@ilstu.eduemail
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Biography

Christopher C. De Santis is Professor of African American and American Literature at Illinois State University.

Current Courses

265.001Foundations Of African-American Literature & Culture

400.001Independent Study

365.001Movements & Periods In African American Literature & Culture

465.001Studies In African American Literature & Culture

Teaching Interests & Areas

African-American Literature and Culture; "Race" in American Literature; American history, particularly Reconstruction and the Civil Rights era and their literary and cultural legacies; Southern Literature

Research Interests & Areas

19th and 20th century American and African-American Literature; the Reconstruction Era and its Legacies; Racial Ideologies and National Identity; The Harlem Renaissance; Langston Hughes; Southern Literature.

PhD English

University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas

MA Afro-American Studies

University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin

BA English

Lewis and Clark College
Portland Oregon

Sigma Tau Delta Faculty Appreciation Award

Sigma Tau Delta
2012

English Education Program Recognition

Illinois State University
2006

Sigma Tau Delta Faculty Appreciation Award

Sigma Tau Delta
2006

Strand Diversity Achievement Award

Illinois State University
2003

Sigma Tau Delta Faculty Appreciation Award

Sigma Tau
2002

University Research Initiative Award

Illinois State University
2002

Pre-Tenure Faculty Initiative Grant

Illinois State University
2001

College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Initiative Award

Illinois State University
2000

Sigma Tau Delta Faculty Appreciation Award

Sigma Tau
2000

University Research Grant

Illinois State University
2000

Book Review

De Santis, C. The Contemporary African American Novel Narrowly Conceived," rev. of The Contemporary African American Novel: Its Folk Roots and Modern Literary Branches, by Bernard W. Bell. American Book Review. American Book Review 27.1 (2005): 18-19.
De Santis, C. Review of Dancing with Strangers: A Memoir, by Mel Watkins. African American Review. African American Review 34.3 (2000): 561-562.
De Santis, C. Review of Rails Under My Back, by Jeffery Renard Allen. Review of Contemporary Fiction. Review of Contemporary Fiction 22 (2000)
De Santis, C. Ralph Ellison's Juneteenth and the Problems of Literary Hearsay. American Book Review. American Book Review 21.1 (1999): 7-9.
De Santis, C. Racial Violence, Cultural Anxiety, and American Literature at the Turn-of-the-Century. American Studies Journal. American Studies Journal 39.1 (1998): 154-156.

Book, Chapter

“Reassessing Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance: Toward an African American Aesthetic,” Critical Insights: Langston Hughes, ed. R. Baxter Miller (Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, 2012), 105-120.

"The Ways of White Folks: A Study Guide," Research Guide to American Literature, American Modernism, 1915-1945, vol. 5, ed. George Parker Anderson (New York: Facts on File, 2010), 172-177.

"The Essayistic Vision of Langston Hughes," Montage of a Dream: The Art and Life of Langston Hughes, ed. John Edgar Tidwell and Cheryl R. Ragar (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2007), 284-304.

De Santis, C. Langston Hughes. George Parker Anderson et al (EDs), Encyclopedia of American Literature. Facts on File Vol. III.Second Edition (2007): 137-138.
De Santis, C. The Negro Speaks of Rivers. George Parker Anderson (EDs), Encyclopedia of American Literature. Facts on File Vol. III.Second Edition (2007): 207.

Book, Edited

Let America Be America Again: Conversation with Langston Hughes, Ed., with Introduction and Notes, Oxford University Press, 2022.

Langston Hughes: A Documentary Volume, vol. 315, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Ed., with Introductions and Notes (Columbia, SC: Bruccoli Clark Layman, Inc., 2005).

Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and Word Affairs, vol. 9, The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Ed., with Introduction and Notes (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002).

Fight for Freedom and Other Writings on Civil Rights, vol. 10, The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Ed., with Introduction and Notes (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001).

Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender: Essays on Race, Politics, and Culture, 1942-62, Ed., with Introduction and Notes, University of Illinois Press, 1995

Journal Article

Christopher C. De Santis, “The Brilliant Rebel, Rebelling Against Everything: The Nonfictional Writings of Langston Hughes,” Langston Hughes Review 25.1, special issue, Remembering Langston Hughes: His Art, Life, and Legacy Fifty Years Later (spring 2019): 105-114.

"Pseudo-History Versus Social Critique: Faulkner's Reconstruction," Southern Quarterly 43.1 (Fall 2005): 9-27.

De Santis, C. Dear Carlo, Dear Langston: An Epistolary Friendship. Documentary Editing. Documentary Editing 24.2.53-55 (2002)

"'Some chord of kinship stronger and deeper than blood': An Interview with John F. Callahan, Editor of Ralph Ellison's Juneteenth," African American Review 34.4 (Winter 2000): 601-620.

"The Dangerous Marrow of Southern Tradition: Charles W. Chesnutt, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the Paternalist Ethos at the Turn-of-the-Century," Southern Quarterly 38.2 (Winter 2000): 79-97.

Other

De Santis, C. Langston Hughes's Radical Aesthetic. Upward Bound Program. Upward Bound Program (1994)

Presentations

Langston Hughes and the NAACP. Fight for Freedom: A Century of the NAACP and the Struggle for Racial Equality. University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. (2009)
Reading 'Race' in the American Literature Classroom: Problems and Issues. Conference of Illinois Teachers of English, Normal, Illinois. (2006)
The Harlem Renaissance. Paderborn American Studies Institute, Normal, Illinois. (2005)
Black Writers in the Age of Reaction. Paderborn American Studies Institute. Paderborn American Studies Institute. (2003)
The Dangerous Marrow of Southern Tradition: Charles W. Chesnutt's Critique of the Color Line. Ohio Writers Celebration, Notre Dame College. Ohio Writers Celebration, Notre Dame College. (2003)
Rediscovering Langston Hughes as Essayist. Let America Be America Again: An International Symposium on the Art, Life & Legacy of Langston Hughes. (2002)
The Essayistic Vision of African America's Poet Laureate: New Directions for Hughes Scholarship,. Modern Language Association Convention. Modern Language Association Convention. (2002)
Reconstruction Politics, Historical Memory, and the American Novel: The Case of Ralph Ellison,. American Culture Association Conference. American Culture Association Conference. (2000)
Freedom Road: Howard Fast's Contribution to Reconstruction Era Myth-Breaking,. Modern Language Association Convention. Modern Language Association Convention. (1999)
Literature and Social Concern. Massachusetts State Colleges Graduate Research Symposium. Massachusetts State Colleges Graduate Research Symposium. (1999)