faculty
Blessing Diala-Ogamba PhD
5th Floor, Room 503
2500 W North Ave
Baltimore, MD 21216
Blessing Diala-Ogamba (PhD) is Professor of English and Chair of Humanities Department at Coppin State University, Baltimore, Maryland. Her research interests are gender and women issues, World Literature and Culture, and immigration. She is the author of Visions on Womanhood in Contemporary African Literature (Lexington Books, 2021); and several articles in scholarly books and journals. She is co-editor of three books, including Deconstructing Boundaries: A Festschrift in Honor of Prof. Chioma Carol Opara (Ibadan, Nigeria: University Press, 2024); Emerging Perspectives on Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (Lexington Books, 2017); and Literary Crossroads: An International Exploration of Women, Gender, and Otherhood (Lexington Books, 2013). Dr. Diala-Ogamba is a Quality Matters Reviewer.
Book Publications:
Ogbujah, Columbus and Diala-Ogamba. Deconstructing Boundaries: A Festschrift in Honor of Prof. Chioma Carol Opara. University Press, Ibadan, 2024.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. Visions of Womanhood in Contemporary African literature. Lanham: Lexington, 2021.
Sackeyfio, Rose and Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. Eds. Emerging Perspectives on Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo. Lanham: Lexington, 2017.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing and Elaine Sykes. Eds. Literary Crossroads: An International Exploration of Women, Gender, and Otherhood. Lanham: Lexington, 2015.
Publications—Chapters in Books:
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Politics of Resistance in Nuruddin Farah’s Trilogy”. Deconstructing Boundaries: A Festschrift in Honor of Prof. Chioma Carol Opara. University Press, Ibadan, 2024.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “From Passivity to Defiance: The Portrayal of Women in Yvonne Vera’s Novels” in Legacies of the Departed African Female Writers. Eds. Helen Chukwuma and Chioma Carol Opara. Lanham” Lexington Books, 2022.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Narratives of Trauma and Struggle in Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun”. Women and the Nigeria-Biafra War: Reframing Gender and Conflict in Africa. Eds. Gloria Chuku and Sussie Aham-Okoro. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2020.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Sisters in the Struggle; Women’s Resistance in Akachi-Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Trafficked and Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters Street”. Emerging Perspectives on Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo. Eds. Sackeyfio, and Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. Lanham: Lexington, 2017.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Global Issues: Gender and Socio-Cultural Awareness in Elizabeth Nunez’ Beyond the Limbo Silence and Prospero’s Daughter” Meeting Points in Black/Africana Women’s Literature. Eds. Chukwuma, Helen and Preselfannie Whitfield McDaniels. Trento: Africa World Press, 2016
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Supernatural Elements in Toni Morrison’s Beloved”. Critical Insights: Beloved by Toni Morrison. Ed. Maureen N. Eke. Ipswich, Massachusetts, Salem Press, 2015.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “On Their Own Terms: Renegotiating Patriarchal Laws According to Farah’s Ebla and El Sadaawi’s Firdaus”. Literary Crossroads: An International Exploration of Women, Gender, and otherhood. Eds. Diala-Ogamba, Blessing and Elaine Sykes. Lanham: Lexington, 2015
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Women’s Struggles and Resistance in Sembene Ousmane’s God’s Bits of Wood.” Writing the Female Image in African Fiction. Ed. Sophie Ogwude. Ibadan: University of Ibadan Press, 2013.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Canons of Victimization and Non-Conformism in Nuruddin Farah’s Blood in the Sun Trilogy”. Critical Issues in African: Twenty-First Century and Beyond. Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press, 2013
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Children of the Home: Ezinma, Beauty to Behold”. Achebe's Women: Imagism and Power. Ed Helen Chukwuma. Trenton: Africa World Press. 2012
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Portrayal of Womanhood in Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Ezeigbo's The last of the Strong Ones”. Achebe's Women: Imagism and Power. Ed Helen Chukwuma. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2012.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Corruption and Rape of the Land in Osonye Tess Onwueme’s Shakara, Dance Hall Queen, Then She said, What Mama Said and No Vacancy”. From Boom to Doom: Protest and Conflict Resolution in the Literature of the Niger Delta. Ed.Chinyere Nwahunanya. Owerri: Springfield, 2011.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Abuse of Power in Nawal El Saadawi’s Love in the Kingdom of Oil and God Dies by the Nile”. Eds. Emenyonu. Ernest and Maureen Eke. Emerging Perspectives on Nawal El Saadawi. Trenton: Africa World Press, 2010.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “Gender, Ethnicity and Sexuality in Recent Nigerian Movies”. Ed. Udumukwu, Onyemaechi. Nigerian Literature in English: Emerging Perspectives. Port Harcourt: M&J Grand Orbit, 2007.
Diala-Ogamba, Blessing. “The Non-Conformist Women in Nurrudin Farah’s Blood of the Sun Trilogy” in Mezu, Rose.
Chair, Department of Humanities.
Board Member: (ERICA)--Episcopal Refugee & Immigrant Center Alliance
Board Member: (COM)--Commission on Ministry for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland
Executive Member: (WOCALA)--Women Caucus of African Literature Association
- PhD in English & Literature, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 1995
- M. ED in Secondary Education, Worchester State College, Massachusetts, 2001
- M. PHIL in English & Literature, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 1990
- M.A. in English, University of Calabar, Nigeria, 1985
- B.A. (HON) English/Education, University of Calabar, Nigeria,1984; (bachelor’s with certification in English, Grades 5-12)
- N.C.E. (National Certificate in Education- Nigeria), 1980
Member: African Studies Association
Member: African Literature Association
Member: College Language Association
Member: Langston Hughes Society
Member: Northeast Modern Language Association
- World Literature and Cultural Studies
- Women and Gender Studies
- Migration and Immigration
- Received Mini-Grant award on Research at Coppin State University in May 2016.
- Received Certificate for presenting at Coppin State University Faculty Research and Development Conference, November 20, 2015
- Received Certificate of Completion for At-Risk for University and College Faculty, December 8, 2015
- Received Certificate of Completion for QM Rubric Update in July 2014.
- Received a Mini-Grant award on Research at Coppin State University in March 2014.
- Received Sloan-C Certificate specializing in Online Design and Delivery Track, March 2013.
- Received a Certificate for completing the Quality Matters Rubric Update, February 2012.
- Received a Mini-Grant award on Research at Coppin State University in May 2011.
- Received a Mini-Grant award on Research at Coppin State University in May 2009.
- Certificate of Completion for the Faculty Writing Institute. June 22nd-26, 2009.
- Received a certificate for the Completion of Quality Matters Training in March 2007.
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