Vincent Odamtten

Vince Odamtten, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Literature and Africana Studies, specializes in African, Caribbean, and African American literatures. He joined the Hamilton faculty in 1985 after earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and subsequently received his doctorate at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. A prolific author of articles and poetry published in a variety of anthologies and journals, Odamtten wrote The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo: Polylectics and Reading Against Neocolonialism and edited Broadening the Horizon: Critical Introductions to Amma Darko. He is currently investigating the life and work of Togbi Sri II, paramount chief of the Anlo-Ewes of Southeastern Ghana, as part of a multimedia narrative project. Odamtten serves as president of the Ghana Society of Central New York.

Recent Courses Taught

Introduction to Science Fiction
Introduction to African-American Literature
Introduction to Literary Studies
Studies in African Literature
Contemporary African-American Literature
Contemporary African Literature
Ghanaian Literature
African American Literature Beyond the Edge
Africana Literatures & Critical Discourses
African American Literature & Multimodal Criticism

Selected Publications

• “Arrow of God: illuminations of impediments and hopes – to bring the promised immunity,” in Illuminations on Chinua Achebe: The Art of Resistance, by Micere Githae Mugo and Herbert Ruffin II, Africa World Press, Inc., 2017.
• “Interview with Ama Ata Aidoo ‘On Writing Africa in the Short Story’” with Maureen Eke & Stephanie Newell, published in African Literature Today 31, James Curry Publishing, 2013.
• “Not Just for Children Anymore: Aidoo's The Eagle and the Chickens and Questions of Identity” in Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70, edited by Anne V. Adams, Ayebia Clarke Publishing, Oxfordshire, UK, February, 2012.
• “Amma Darko” in The Dictionary of African Biography, edited by Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Oxford University Press, 1st edition, New York and London, December, 2011.
• “Letter from America – Ghana: Democracy and Sustainable Development, An African Example” published in The New Legon Observer 10 April 2008, Vol. 2 No. 6.
• Broadening the Horizon: Critical Introductions to Amma Darko, edited by Vincent Odamtten, Ayebia Clarke Publishing, Oxfordshire, UK, 2007.

Appointed to the Faculty

1999

Educational Background

Ph. D. in English, SUNY at Stony Brook
M.A., University of Cape Coast, Ghana
B.A., University of Cape Coast, Ghana