Nneka Dennie to be Presented the MLA Prize for Bibliographical or Archival Scholarship

By Brian Laubscher
December 16, 2024

Nneka Dennie, assistant professor of history at Washington and Lee University, has been selected to receive the 14th Modern Language Association of America (MLA) Prize for Bibliographical or Archival Scholarship.

Dennie's award is one of 23 total prizes that will be presented at the 2025 MLA Annual Convention on Jan. 10 in New Orleans. She was cited for her book "Mary Ann Shadd Cary: Essential Writings of a Nineteenth-Century Black Radical Feminist," published by the Oxford University Press in October 2023.

The MLA selection committee's citation on Dennie's publication notes that she "moves Shadd Cary's important writings in several genres - embedded in various archival sources - into a broadly accessible published form. In doing so, Dennie combats the challenges of what Ashley D. Farmer calls a 'disorderly distributed archive,' the seemingly disorganized dispersal of materials produced by Black women. Dennie further argues that Shadd Cary needs to be viewed within a tradition of Black radicalism that is not monolithic but instead changes over the last two centuries while maintaining a through line of a Black radical ethic of care."

"I'm honored that my book has received this award, but, more importantly, I'm thrilled for Mary Ann Shadd Cary's work to be recognized in this way," said Dennie. Shadd Cary was an abolitionist, suffragist and the first Black woman newspaper editor in North America. Despite her significance to the 19th-century Black freedom networks, she is not as well-known as some of her contemporaries. As the first collection of writings by and about Shadd Cary, I hope that my book can spur further research into her perspectives and activism, and that this award reflects growing interest in studying earlier generations of Black intellectuals."

Eric Keenaghan, associate professor of English at the University at Albany, State University of New York, and Rowena Kennedy-Epstein, professor of gender studies and women's writing at the University of Bristol (U.K.), will receive the same prize, while two others earned honorable mention status.

A member of the W&L faculty since 2020, Dennie specializes in 19th- and 20th-century African American history, and her research examines Black intellectual history, Black feminist thought, transitional feminism and Black radicalism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science with honors in Africana studies from Williams College. She also earned a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in African American Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she also received a graduate certificate in advanced feminist studies.

The MLA Prize for Bibliographical or Archival Scholarship was established by the MLA Executive Council in 1997 in response to a proposal from the association's advisory committee on the MLA International Bibliography. The prize was redefined in 2012 to include archives and digital projects. From 2019 to 2023, it also recognized collaborative research.

The Modern Language Association of America and its over 20,000 members in 100 countries work to strengthen the study and teaching of languages and literature. Founded in 1883, the MLA provides opportunities for its members to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy. The MLA sustains one of the finest publication programs in the humanities, producing a variety of publications for language and literature professionals and for the general public. The association publishes the MLA International Bibliography, the only comprehensive bibliography in language and literature, available online.

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