Nathan H. Dize’s work is situated at the intersection of French Caribbean literary and intellectual history, African Diaspora studies, translation studies, and the digital humanities.
Research interests: 20th and 21st century French Caribbean literature; Translation studies and craft; Haitian and Caribbean intellectual history; Afro-diasporic religious studies; memoir and life writing; global Francophone drama; Critical Race Theory and Black feminisms; Caribbean digital humanities; inclusive pedagogies
Assistant Professor of French at Washington University in Saint Louis, Nathan H. Dize earned his Ph.D from Vanderbilt University. He is co-editor (along with Drs. Annette Joseph-Gabriel and Vanessa K. Valdés) of the Global Black Writers in Translation book series with Vanderbilt University Press.
Professor Dize is working on two book projects, Follow the Translator: The Legacies of Black Translators of Francophone Literature and Resting Places: Haitian Literature and the Practice of Mourning. Follow the Translator is an interdisciplinary project – grounded in African American studies, French studies, and Translation studies – that seeks to understand how Black translators of Francophone African and Caribbean literature crafted translations that challenged academic disciplines as well as literary canons and markets. Resting Places is a study that explores how literature enables Haitian writers to practice intimate and collective rites of mourning across time and space.
Professor Dize has authored articles and book chapters on Caribbean Digital Humanities, Francophone Caribbean women’s cultural history, Haitian literature and film, and Translation studies. He has published in archipelagos journal, Caribbean Quarterly, the Journal of Haitian Studies, LitHub, Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature, sx salon, and Words Without Borders.
He is a founding member of the Kwazman Vwa collective, a member of the digital networks of Fanm Rebèl and Rendering Revolution: Sartorial Approaches to Haitian History, and a founding editor of the digital history project, A Colony in Crisis: The Saint-Domingue Grain Shortage of 1789.
Professor Dize is also an accomplished translator of Haitian literature. His translations include the novels The Immortals and The Emperor by Makenzy Orcel, I Am Alive by Kettly Mars, Antoine of Gommiers by Lyonel Trouillot, and Duels by Néhémy Pierre-Dahomey. He has translated poetry and short prose from French and Haitian Creole (Kreyòl) by Jean D’Amérique, James Noël, and Évelyne Trouillot.
For a selection of translations, poems and excerpted works, and interviews see below:
Interviews
“Translating as an Act of Care: Interview with Translator Nathan Dize & Corine Labridy”
“The Immortals” Nathan Dize with Patrick Jean-Baptiste on the Nèg Mawon Podcast
Poetry
“Poem for Children with Trouble Sleeping” by Jean D’Amérique
“Black Prayer” by James Noël
Excerpted Fiction
“I Am Alive” by Kettly Mars
“Antoine of Gommiers” by Lyonel Trouillot