Melvin B. Rahming was born and reared in Fox Hill, Nassau, Bahamas. Since 1979 he has taught African American and Caribbean literatures at Morehouse College, where he served as the Hugh M. Gloster Professor of English and as the Chair of the English Department. A public speaker and published poet, Dr. Rahming is also the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the International Conference on Caribbean Literature (ICCL) and a member of the African American Multicultural Educator’s Hall of Fame. His current scholarly project is entitled A Critical Theory of Spirit, in which he attempts to articulate a new, spirit-centered model and methodology for the criticism of literature and art.

Education
Ph.D. in English, University of Oklahoma

B.A. in English, Oklahoma Baptist University

Selected Publications
Changing Currents: Transnational Caribbean Literary and Cultural Criticism, co-edited
 with Emily Williams, Africa World press, 2006.

The Evolution of the West Indian’s Image in the Afro-American Novel.  New York: Associated Faculty Press, 1986.

“Towards a Critical Theory of Spirit: The Insistent Demands of Erna Brobder’s Myal”.
 Changing Currents: Transnational Caribbean Literary and Cultural Criticism, Ed.
  Emily Williams and Melvin Rahming, Africa World press, 2006.

“Theorizing Spirit: The Critical Challenge on Elizabeth Nunez’s,” Studies in the Literary
 Imagination, ed., Carol Marsh-Lockett and Elizabeth West, Summer 2004.

“Phenomenology, Ontology, Epistemology and Spirit:  Caribbean Perspective in Ann
Petry’s Tituba of Salem Village,” South Central Review: Journal of the South 
 Central Modern Language Association, Summer 2003.

“Goodbye to All That!: Engaging the Shift of Sensibility Between John Webster’s The White Devil  and Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman.”  College Language  Journal, September 2002.

Contact
Brawley Hall 104
ext. 3607
mrahming@morehouse.edu