Janis Mayes
{{Short description|American professor of Africana studies}}
Dr. Janis Alene Mayes is an American author, literary critic and translator and a professor in Africana literature.[https://books.google.com/books?id=kNUDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Dr.+Janis+Mayes&pg=PA20 Ebony Magazine, December 1999.][https://books.google.com/books?id=8AQyLXuCHPAC&dq=Dr.+Janis+Mayes&pg=PA182 Ebony Magazine, February 1999.]Gerard, Albert, European-language writing in sub-Saharan Africa, Volume 2, p. 1017.
Early life
Mayes gained her undergraduate degree in French literature at Fisk University. She was a Fulbright Scholar.{{cite web | url=http://www.syr.edu/alumni/events/Boston-Event.html | title=Attend an Event | access-date=2011-10-28 | archive-date=2012-04-05 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405044242/http://www.syr.edu/alumni/events/Boston-Event.html | url-status=dead }} She had additional study as a scholar at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. In the 1980s she moved to Syracuse, New York, where she began teaching at Syracuse University in the Department of African American Studies; she is currently a professor there.{{Cite web |url=http://thecollege.syr.edu/profiles/pages/mayes-janis.html |title=Syracuse University, College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Directory. |access-date=2011-10-28 |archive-date=2011-12-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212233633/http://thecollege.syr.edu/profiles/pages/mayes-janis.html |url-status=dead }} She teaches in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University.
Career
Mayes contributed to French and English literature in the African diaspora. Her specialties are in French translation literary practices. She has translated anthologies and books in francophone literatures. Her translation of A Rain of Words is an anthology of francophone poetry.{{cite web|url=http://www.upress.virginia.edu/books/d%27almeida.HTM |accessdate=October 28, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905154630/http://www.upress.virginia.edu/books/d%27almeida.HTM |archivedate=September 5, 2011 |title=A Rain of Words: A Bilingual Anthology of Women's Poetry in Francophone Africa }} She is the director of a US study abroad program that examines the historical connections between African Americans and "Black Paris", entitled Paris Noir. The Syracuse University program claims to have shaped Africana-focused cultural programs at leading museums in Paris such as the Louvre.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} Nina Simone, Archie Shepp, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Sonia Sanchez and Toni Morrison were involved.{{cite news |last1=Vickers |first1=Robert J. |title=Paris Noir |url=https://www.diverseeducation.com/students/article/15079139/paris-noir |work=Diverse |date=26 March 2003 }} She was a board member of the Toni Morrison Society. In 2004, she conversed with Morrison at the Theatre de la Madeleine after the unveiling of a bench commemorating the end of slavery in France.{{Cite web |url=http://goparis.about.com/b/2010/11/04/american-author-toni-morrison-honored-in-paris-commemorates-end-of-slavery.htm |title=Courtney Traub, "American Author Toni Morrison Honored in Paris, Commemorates End of Slavery", About.com Guide, November 4, 2010. |access-date=October 31, 2011 |archive-date=October 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013220210/http://goparis.about.com/b/2010/11/04/american-author-toni-morrison-honored-in-paris-commemorates-end-of-slavery.htm |url-status=dead }} She has also organized cultural literary conferences, including an event with Discover Paris! that celebrated Morrison's literary contribution to the African diaspora.[http://www.prlog.org/11054904-toni-morrison-society-discovers-paris.html "Toni Morrison Society Discovers Paris!"] November 9, 2010.
Published work
- Taking the Blues Back Home/Ramener le blues chez soi, Présence Africaine (translation)- 2010
- A Rain of Words: A Bilingual Anthology of Women's Poetry in Francophone Africa, Irène Assiba d'Almeida (translation) – 2009
- The Blind Kingdom, Véronique Tadjo (translation) – 2008
- Mapping Intersections: African Literature and Africa's Development (with Anne Adams) – 1998
- {{cite journal |last1=Mayes |first1=Janis A. |title=Review of Of Dreams Deferred, Dead or Alive: African Perspectives on African-American Writers |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |date=1998 |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=686–687 |id={{ProQuest|229616417}} |doi=10.2307/221515 |jstor=221515 }}
- The City Where No One Dies, Dadié, Bernard (translation; Washington, DC: Three Continents) – 1986
- African Literature and Africa's Development (AWP) (with Anne Adams)[http://www.african-writing.com/four/veroniquetadjointerview.htm African Writing Online. Interview: Véronique Tadjo, A Conversation with Janis Mayes.]
Honors
Mayes is a Fulbright Scholar and became President of the African Literature Association in 2003.
References
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Category:Brown University alumni
Category:Fisk University alumni
Category:Literary critics of French
Category:French literary critics
Category:French women literary critics
Category:Syracuse University faculty
Category:African-American writers
Category:American literary critics
Category:American women literary critics