World literature professor Jeanne-Marie Jackson has been awarded a 2021 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. She is one of 26 scholars and writers recognized by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as part of the class of 2021.

The Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, founded in 2015, is named after American industrialist Andrew Carnegie and provides a $200,000 stipend to “fund significant research and writing in the social sciences and humanities that addresses important and enduring issues confronting our society.” This is in line with Mr Carnegie’s own lifelong philosophy of providing support for the arts and scientific research.

The grant will support Jackson’s work on her third book, a literary biography of J.E. Casely Hayford, a Fante Gold Coast journalist, lawyer and prominent pan-Africanist, notable for his opposition to British colonial rule. Jackson will also work on a teaching edition of [Hayford’s] 1911 novel Ethiopia Unbound.

Jeanne-Marie, an Associate professor of world literature at Johns Hopkins University, has written extensively on African literature. She is the author of South African Literature’s Russian Soul, (2015). Her most recent book, The African Novel of Ideas, which was featured in Brittle Paper’s 50 Notable African Books of 2020, explores the presence of philosophical discourse in African novels. Her scholarly work can be found in a wide range of academic journals, as well as public-facing venues such as n+1, Public Books, 3:AM Magazine, Africa in Words, The Literary Review, and Bookslut.

Jackson said: “It is deeply gratifying to see the vibrant and eclectic field of African literature recognized on this kind of national scale. I have poured my heart and soul into expanding the African humanities’ presence on the Johns Hopkins campus, and I am excited to imagine how this grant might further amplify those efforts among current and prospective students and colleagues.”

Congratulations to Jeanne-Marie Jackson!

Go here to see the Class of 2021 fellows.