Megan E Fourqurean

My central research interests are gender and sexuality, postcolonial ecocriticism and embodied religions in contemporary African literature, with an emerging interest in Afro-diasporic literature from the Caribbean and United States. More broadly, I am interested in decolonial queer ecocriticism in global postcolonial writing. 

I completed my PhD in the School of English at the University of Leeds, where I passed without corrections. I received my MA in Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Studies from the University of Leeds, and my dissertation was awarded the Charles Barber Prize. I also hold a BA in English from Seattle University, where I was awarded the Trustee Scholarship for the duration of my studies. 

My doctoral thesis, which was recognised for Research Excellence, examined narratives of gender nonconformity in contemporary Nigerian literature. My most distinctive intervention in the field of queer African studies was my theoretical deployment of the gender nonconforming water deity Mami Wata as a method for theorising gender from a distinctly African cosmological perspective. 

As a LAHRI Visiting Fellow, I will be developing my first monograph, which will explore the spiritual, political and environmental contexts of gender nonconformity in contemporary Nigerian literature. Based on my doctoral thesis, this monograph will operate at the intersection of queer African studies, postcolonial ecocriticism, religious studies and critical theory. The project will build on the work of scholars such as Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley, Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi and Keguro Macharia. Alongside my monograph, I will be preparing applications for postdoctoral fellowships through the British Academy and the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. 

My publications demonstrate my broader interests in postcolonial literature at the intersection of gender and environment. I have published and forthcoming articles in Literature, Critique and Empire Today; Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa; Science Fiction Studies; ARIEL and the Literary Encyclopedia. I am currently preparing articles on Nigerian cli-fi and decolonial ecocriticism in Los Angeles for Modern Fiction Studies and PMLA. 

Alongside my research, I am dedicated to teaching students of all ages within the university and beyond. I have been an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2023. At the University of Leeds, I have taught Level 1 and 3 modules across the School of English and the Leeds University Centre for African Studies. These modules span a range of subjects, including cultural studies, critical race theory, decolonial studies and global African literature. Prior to my time at the University of Leeds, I taught British Literature and AP Literature and Composition to final year secondary school students in Beijing, and British and American Literature to undergraduate students in Ganzhou, China. I also currently volunteer with the Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network, where I deliver English at Home lessons to refugees and asylum seekers who are unable to attend classes elsewhere.  

I am dedicated to furthering public engagement with African literary and artistic production. I have presented my work in queer African studies as part of the Queer History Club, a public workshop series organised in collaboration with The Bookish Type, a queer independent bookshop in Leeds. As part of my LAHRI Visiting Fellowship, I plan to hold events which will encourage the public to build deeper relationships with African stories through film and literature. 

Publications

Journal article

Fourqurean, Megan E., ‘Permeable Boundaries and Animist Mobilities in Contemporary Nigerian Cli-Fi,’ Modern Fiction Studies. In preparation. 

Fourqurean, Megan E., ‘Rituals and Rivers: Reading the Decolonial Possibilities of Mami Wata in Los Angeles,’ PMLA. In preparation. 

Fourqurean, Megan E., ‘“We were many species, many bodies”: Indigenous Storytelling and Ecological Embodiments in Taiwanese American Fiction,’ ARIEL special issue, ‘Decolonizing Asian Diasporic Ecocriticism,’ ed. by Emily Yu Zong and Jeffrey Santa Ana. Submitted. 

Fourqurean, Megan E., ‘Akwaeke Emezi,’ Literary Encyclopedia. Submitted. 

Fourqurean, Megan E., ‘Literary Activism and Afrofuturist Genealogies in Multi-Authored Fiction,’ Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, 36.2 (2024), 109-123.

Fourqurean, Megan E., ‘Literary Realism, Speculative Fiction and Queer African Futures in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater,’ Science Fiction Studies, 51.3 (2024), 456-476.

Fourqurean, Megan E., ‘Agential Realism and Trans-corporeality in Contemporary South Asian Literature,’ Literature, Critique and Empire Today, 59.2-3 (2024), 130-144.

Reviews

Fourqurean, Megan E., ‘Review of Gendered Violence and Human Rights in Black World Literature and Film, ed. by Naomi Nkealah and Obioma Nnaemeka (London: Routledge, 2022),’ Journal of the African Literature Association, 18.2 (2024), 355-357.

Conferences and Presentations

2024

‘Collective Literary Production, Racial Justice and Afrofuturism in Multi-Authored Fiction,’ Collective Form and National Liberation Symposium, Newcastle University, June 2024. 

 ‘Cosmological Relations in Contemporary Nigerian Literature,’ ALA Annual Conference, University of Louisville, May 2024. 

2023

 ‘Igbo Literary Realism in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater,’ African Realisms and Related Forms Symposium, University of Southampton, October 2023. 

 ‘“This is the ancient way’: Ritual Archives and Water Deity Worship as Decolonial Resistance in Contemporary Los Angeles,’ ASLE Biennial Conference, Portland, Oregon, July 2023. 

 ‘“There will never be no more River’: The Decolonial Possibilities of Mami Wata in Los Angeles,’ EACLALS Triennial Conference, Sorbonne-Nouvelle University, June 2023. 

 ‘“An unusual incarnation”: Re-imagining Gender and Tradition in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater,’ ECAS Biennial Conference, University of Cologne, May 2023. 

2022

 ‘Mami Wata and Spirit Kinship as Fluid Social Commons,’ ACLALS Triennial Conference, Toronto Metropolitan University, July 2022. 

 ‘Gender Nonconformity, Nonhuman Embodiment and Multiform Co-presence in Contemporary Nigerian Literature,’ ASAA Biennial Conference, University of Cape Town, April 2022. 

Teaching

Contemporary African Literature 

Decolonial Literature 

Black Atlantic Literature 

African Cultural and Creative Production 

Qualifications

BA in English, Seattle University 

MA in Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds 

PhD in Contemporary Nigerian Literature, University of Leeds 

Professional memberships 

African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA) 

African Literature Association (ALA) 

European Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (EACLALS) 

Association for the Study of Literature and Environment – United Kingdom and Ireland (ASLE-UKI) 

Postcolonial Studies Association (PSA)