Africana Studies and Global Women’s Studies receive new faculty coordinators—and they both come from the College of Humanities.
Starting in summer 2024, the Kennedy Center will welcome Associate Professor Peter Leman (Postcolonial Literature and Theory, African Literature) and Professor Heather Belnap (19th-Century French Art and Culture) as new faculty coordinators for the Africana Studies and Global Women’s Studies (GWS) programs, respectively. As they anticipate the start of their tenures, both Leman and Belnap look forward to helping students dive into Africana and Global Women’s Studies with a humanities twist.
While serving as an associate professor in the English Department, Leman has taught many classes on African literature and collaborated with the Africana Studies program. Through this involvement, he has found ways to connect students to the diverse cultures and perspectives found on the African continent, in African American communities, and from the African Diaspora. Leman hopes that he can use his background in the English Department to help undergraduates recognize the beauty and growth that can come from diving into African culture through literature. He says, “The African writers I study and teach are amazingly creative, imaginative, and full of insight about history and human experience, and my life and my students’ lives have been greatly enriched by studying [their works].”
Belnap was involved in the creation of the Global Women’s Studies program after it replaced the Women’s Research Institute in 2011 and continued her involvement until 2017, when she joined the Kennedy Center’s European Studies program. As a committee member, she worked alongside BYU faculty to create a program that, as she explains, helps students “improve the lives of women and families and effect positive change in their communities.” Seven years later, she reconnects with this program, only this time as faculty coordinator.
Belnap encourages students to take the time to understand women and their history. She told the Kennedy Center that the Global Women’s Studies program “serves as a hub for students and faculty committed to . . . advancing women’s agency and opportunities in today’s world in order to foster a more Zion future.” She concludes, “Our world is in desperate need of more light, and the GWS program and its members are well positioned to become the brightest of beams.”
Click the following links to learn more about Africana Studies and Global Women’s Studies.