The University of St. Thomas

College of Arts & Sciences | Department of English

Todd Lawrence

Todd Lawrence

(David) Todd Lawrence

Associate Professor of English

dtlawrence@stthomas.edu
Phone: (651) 962-5625

Office Location: JRC 340
Office Hours: N/A--Dr. Lawrence is on sabbatical during Spring 2012

Courses taught in Fall 2012
ENGL 203-41
41768		 HON:Work, Workers & Amer Dream 1055-1200 M W F TBD

4 Credit Hours

With its focus on thematic and intertextual perspectives, the readings in this course might be ordered any number of ways: according to theme, an idea that develops across genres or literary periods, or by their incorporation of specific oral or textual precedents (e.g. mythology, the Bible, classical writings, legends, or folklore).
ENGL 217-01
40582		 Multicultural Literature 1335-1440 M W F TBD

4 Credit Hours

This course will focus on extensive reading of a broad selection of authors drawn from the literature of one of the following: (a) American communities of color; (b) postcolonial peoples; (c) diasporic peoples. Students will engage in close analysis of literary texts from at least one such literary tradition, with some attention to historical and cultural contexts. This course fulfills the Human Diversity requirement in the core curriculum. Prerequisites: ENGL 111 and 112 or 190

Academic History

Ph.D., University of Missouri
M.A., Creighton University
B.A., Rockhurst University
At St. Thomas Since 2003

Expertise/Specialties

African American Literature and Expressive Culture
Folklore and Folkloristics
The Black Arts Movement

Selected Publications

Review of Near Black: White-to-Black Passing in American Culture by Baz Dreissinger. MELUS 35.1 (2010) 190-192.

“Talk Like a Man: Internal Dissonance and the Performance of Masculinity in Etheridge Knight’s Poems From Prison.” The Griot: Official Journal of the Southern Conference on African  American Studies 27.2 (2008): 10-23.

"We Are Family: Gender Tensions and the Construction of the Black Family in the Early Poetry of Sonia Sanchez." B.MA: The Sonia Sanchez Literary Review 10.2 (2005).

"Folkloric Representation and Extended Context in the Experimental Ethnography of Zora Neale Hurston." Southern Folklore 57.2 (2000): 119-134.

Selected Presentations

“Beneath the Underdog, Between Traditions: Charles Mingus’s Use of the Black Pimp Figure.” The Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900. Louisville, Kentucky, February 2010.

“’Telling the Story of My Life’”: Collaboration and Privileged Voice in What is the What.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Boise, Idaho, October 2009.

“‘American Has Really Grown Up’: Percival Everett, Barack Obama, and the Illusion of a ‘Post-Racial’ Society.” Midwest Modern Language Association Annual Meeting. Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 2008.

“When is Graffiti Not Really Graffiti?: Ideology and Folk Expression at the Flight 93 Memorial.” American Folklore Society Annual Meeting. Louisville, Kentucky, October 2008.

Memberships in Professional Organizations

Modern Language Association
Midwest Modern Language Association
American Folklore Society
Southern Conference on African American Studies