Assistant Professor, German Studies | Member of the Graduate Faculty
Dr. Oduro-Opuni received her Ph.D. in Comparative Culture and Language and an African Studies Certificate from Arizona State University. She earned her M.A. in German from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and her B.A. in Media and Communication Sciences from the Universität Hamburg in Germany, where she was born and raised. In addition to German and English, she also speaks Twi. She is affiliated faculty with the Africana Studies Program. Her research focuses on Black German studies and includes intersectional discussions on transnationalism, colonialism, migration, minority cultures, and multiculturalism. She engages German contexts by drawing on approaches rooted in Black thought and theories as well as postcolonial studies. In her current project, she explores 18th and early 19th century German-language discourses that articulate a nuanced critique of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade and are indicative of abolitionist currents. Dr. Oduro-Opuni serves on the advisory board of the Black German Heritage and Research Association BGHRA) and is the co-coordinator for the German Studies Association GSA) Black Diaspora Studies Network. She has published an article titled “German Abolitionism: Kotzebue and the Transnational Debate on Slavery” in a special issue of the Journal of Transnational American Studies on “Transnational Black Politics and Resistance: From Enslavement to Obama.” In addition, Dr. Oduro-Opuni has a publication in the new Goethe Yearbook volume on New) Directions in 18th century German Studies called “Lessing and Kotzebue: A Black Studies Approach to Reading the Eighteenth Century.” In partnershiwith three colleagues, she recently received a Research, Innovation and Impact Challenge Grant in the amount of 49,995 for the Africana Studies Program and the Center for Digital Humanities in Fall 2020. The grant was be used to create research opportunities for undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds