On April 17, at the invitation of the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Professor Luo Lianggong, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages at Central China Normal University and doctoral supervisor, delivered an academic lecture as an invited speaker at the Academic Forum of the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures. The lecture, titled “Contemporary Turns in African American Literature”, was held at Qinling Building, Yuzhong Campus. Faculty and students attended the lecture, which was chaired by Professor Jiang Hongxia, Director of the Institute of Foreign Literatures.

Professor Luo systematically outlined the historical development of African American literature and the profound turns that have taken place in this field since the 1980s, focusing on three key concepts: the American national narrative, the independence of American literature, and the vitality of American literature. Drawing on specific authors and works, he explained the characteristics of the contemporary turns in African American literature from both temporal and spatial dimensions. From the temporal perspective, contemporary African American writers are rooted in their ethnic history and cultural traditions, while simultaneously reinterpreting history from a modern viewpoint, serving the present and looking toward the future, thereby establishing their identities as contemporary writers. From the spatial perspective, African American writers, once positioned on the margins or outside the mainstream, have now secured their identity as “African American writers”. Professor Luo argued that the contemporary turns in African American literature not only reflect the richness and complexity of cultural expression within the African American community but also offer new perspectives and research paradigms for the study of contemporary foreign literature.

The lecture was followed by an in-depth discussion with Professor Luo Lianggong on topics such as “how to conduct research from a Chinese cultural perspective”. Professor Jiang Xiahong delivered the concluding remarks.