Joseph Skerrett

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Joseph T. Skerrett (1943 – July 25, 2015) [1] was an American literary critic and professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. [2] Much of his work centers on black studies, and his best-known book is the 2001 anthology Literature, Race and Ethnicity: Contesting American Identities. With Amritjit Singh and Robert E. Hogan, he also edited two books on Memory in Ethnic American Literature in 1994 and 1996 respectively.

Literary criticism study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature

Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists.

University of Massachusetts Amherst public university in Massachusetts, USA

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system. UMass Amherst has an annual enrollment of approximately 1,300 faculty members and more than 30,000 students and was ranked 27th best public university by U.S. News Report in 2018 in the national universities category.

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Skerrett was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1943, and earned a Bachelor's degree at Saint Francis College in 1964. [3] He then earned an M.A. in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University in 1965, and a Ph.D. in English at Yale University. His work at Yale focused on 20th century African-American literature. [4]

Johns Hopkins University Private research university in Baltimore, Maryland

Johns Hopkins University is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, the university was named for its first benefactor, the American entrepreneur, abolitionist, and philanthropist Johns Hopkins. His $7 million bequest —of which half financed the establishment of Johns Hopkins Hospital—was the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the United States up to that time. Daniel Coit Gilman, who was inaugurated as the institution's first president on February 22, 1876, led the university to revolutionize higher education in the U.S. by integrating teaching and research. Adopting the concept of a graduate school from Germany's ancient Heidelberg University, Johns Hopkins University is considered the first research university in the United States. Over the course of several decades, the university has led all U.S. universities in annual research and development expenditures. In fiscal year 2016, Johns Hopkins spent nearly $2.5 billion on research.

Skerrett joined the University of Massachusetts, Amherst English Department in 1973. [4] From 1986 to 1999, Skerrett edited the journal, MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, which brought attention to a diversity of American literatures, and their "interfaces." [5]

Publications

The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS) is a scholarly society established in 1974. Together with the University of Connecticut, MELUS publishes a quarterly academic journal, MELUS. The aim of the Society is "to expand the definition of American literature through the study and teaching of Latino American, Native American, African-American, Asian and Pacific American, and ethnically specific Euro-American literary works, their authors, and their cultural contexts".


Awards

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References

  1. ↑ "Joseph T. Skerrett (1943-2015), Obituary", Daily Hampshire Gazette, July 31, 2015.
  2. ↑ Chambers, Marcia (June 8, 1978). "Macchiarola Said to Be Planning Wide Shakeup at Education Board..." New York Times . p. A1. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "UMass Amherst English Professor Joseph Skerrett Receives Honorary Degree", UMass Amherst Press Release, July 14, 1998.
  4. 1 2 "In Memoriam: Joseph T. Skerrett, 1943-2015", The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Aug. 12, 2015.
  5. ↑ Editors, Oxford University Press, "40 Years of MELUS" (2014).


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