Dr. Gerard Aching

Biography

Gerard Aching is a Professor Emeritus specializing in Africana and Romance Studies at Cornell University. With a focus on 19th-20th century Caribbean literatures and intellectual histories, Aching explores modernity, modernism, and the interplay of literature, philosophy, and slavery in the Caribbean context. He is the author of several notable works including 'Politics of Spanish American Modernismo: Exquisite Design' (Cambridge, 1997), 'Masking Power: Carnival and Popular Culture in the Caribbean' (Minnesota, 2002), and 'Freedom and Liberation: Slavery, Sentiment, and Literature in Cuba' (Indiana, 2015). His ongoing research examines themes of subjectivity in slave narratives and the philosophy of slavery, alongside socio-historical contexts such as sugar production and racialization processes in the transatlantic world. Aching's contributions extend to his collaborative involvement in the Underground Railroad Research Project, which aims to engage local communities in Central and Western New York and inform his forthcoming book, 'Promise of Rebirth: A Contemporary Approach to the Underground Railroad'. His accolades include the Howard Foundation Fellowship (1999) and the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2003), and he has served as a director of the Africana Studies and Research Center and as a Faculty Fellow at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.

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Awards