Hazel Carby facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hazel V. Carby
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| Born |
Hazel Vivian Carby
15 January 1948 Okehampton, Devon, UK
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| Alma mater | Portsmouth Polytechnic, London University, Birmingham University |
| Occupation | Professor, writer |
| Spouse(s) | Michael Denning |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Wesleyan University, Yale University |
Hazel Vivian Carby is a famous professor and writer. She was born on January 15, 1948, in Okehampton, a town in Devon, England. Carby is known for her work in African American Studies and American Studies. She was a respected professor at Yale University for many years.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Hazel Carby was born in the United Kingdom to a Jamaican father and a Welsh mother. This mixed heritage gave her a unique view of the world.
She loved learning and went to several universities. In 1970, she earned a degree in English and history from Portsmouth Polytechnic. After that, she trained to be a teacher at London University. For seven years, from 1972 to 1979, she taught high school students.
Later, she returned to school at the Birmingham University Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. There, she earned a master's degree in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1984. A Ph.D. is the highest degree a person can get in a field of study.
A Career in Teaching and Writing
In 1981, Carby began her university teaching career in the United States. She first taught at Yale University and then at Wesleyan University. In 1989, she returned to Yale and became one of its most important professors.
Her classes explored topics like race, gender, and culture. She was especially interested in the experiences of people in the Caribbean and Black people around the world. She also studied science fiction and how Black women are shown in books and movies.
Important Books and Ideas
Hazel Carby has written several important books that have changed how people think about race and history.
- Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist (1987): In this book, Carby studied the writings of Black women authors from the past. She looked at writers like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and Ida B. Wells. She showed how important their stories were.
- Race Men: The Body and Soul of Race, Nation, and Manhood (1998): This book is a collection of essays. Carby examined how Black men have been represented in history. She famously wrote about the book The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois. She respected his work but also pointed out that it focused mostly on men's experiences.
- Cultures in Babylon: Black Britain and African America (1999): This book explores the connections between Black cultures in the United Kingdom and the United States.
- Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands (2019): This book is a personal story about her own family. It connects her life to the history of the British Empire. It received many positive reviews.
Carby has shared her ideas by giving lectures at universities all over the world.
Awards and Recognition
In 2020, Hazel Carby's book Imperial Intimacies: A Tale of Two Islands won a major award. It was given the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding by the British Academy. This prize is for books that help people from different cultures understand each other better.
She also helps guide important academic journals, which are magazines where experts publish their research.
Personal Life
On May 29, 1982, Hazel Carby married Michael Denning. He is also a professor at Yale University.
