Grégory Pierrot

Associate Professor

English

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About

Grégory Pierrot is Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut at Stamford where he teaches American and African American literature. His research bears on the cultural networks of the Black Atlantic. He is the author of The Black Avenger in Atlantic Culture (UGA, 2019), co-editor with Marlene Daut and Marion Rohrleitner of Haitian Revolutionary Fictions: An Anthology (UVA, 2021), translator of Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli’s Free Jazz/Black Power (Mississippi, 2015). He co-edited with Paul Youngquist a scholarly edition of Marcus Rainsford’s An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti (Duke 2013), and recently prefaced two short collections of nineteenth-century short stories in French about the Haitian revolution for L’Harmattan editions. He also co-translated with Jean-Baptiste Naudy La Couleur de l’oubli (The Color of Forgetting), a novel by Merle Collins, and Brent H. Edwards’ Pratique de la diaspora (The Practice of Diaspora), forthcoming at Éditions Rot-Bo-Krik.
He is currently working on a book about Black Power-era fiction, and part of a team of researchers working on a digital edition of the 19th-century, French-language abolitionist review La Revue des colonies, recipient of a NHPRC grant.

Specialties

• American Literature
• African American Literature
• Haitian Revolutionary Studies
• Atlantic Studies
• Music
• Graphic Novel

 

Publications

Decolonize Hipsters.  OR Books, 2021.

Dekolonisiert den Hipster. Jan-Frederik Bandel trans. Nautilus, 2022. (German translation)

Ο αποικιοκράτης χίπστερ. Dimitris M. Moschos, trans. Antipodes, 2023. (Greek translation)

The Black Avenger in Atlantic Culture. University of Georgia Press, 2019.

 

Edited volumes

Toussaint Louverture et après: une anthologie. Éditions L’Harmattan, 2022 (French scholarly edition).

Haitian Revolutionary Fictions: An Anthology. Marlene L. Daut, Marion Rohrleitner, Grégory Pierrot eds. UVA Press, 2022. (scholarly anthology)

Échos de Saint Domingue vol.1. Éditions L’Harmattan, 2020 (French scholarly edition).

An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti, by Marcus Rainsford, co-edited with Paul Youngquist. Duke University Press, 2013.

 

 

Translations

Pratique de la diaspora, Brent H. Edwards. Rot-Bo-Krik Editions, 2023. (French translation of The Practice of Diaspora: Literature, Translation and the Rise of Black Internationalism, in collaboration with Jean-Baptiste Naudy). Forthcoming, 2024.

La Couleur de l’oubli, Merle Collins. Rot-Bo-Krik Editions, 2023. (French translation of The Colour of Forgetting, in collaboration with Jean-Baptiste Naudy).

Nehri, Chief of the Haytians, Juste Chanlatte, Comte de Rosiers. < https://kingdomofobjects.wordpress.com/nehri-by-juste-chanlatte-1819/> . (English translation of Néhri, Chef des Haytiens).

Free Jazz/Black Power, Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli. University Press of Mississippi, 2015 (English translation).

 

Journal Articles

“Write Their Names: Percival Everett’s The Trees as Re[a]d Record.” Palimpsest 12.2 (2023): 69-76.

“Nègre (noir, black, renoi, négro).” Small Axe 26.2 (2022): 100-107.

“Juste Chanlatte: a Haitian Life,” Journal of Haitian Studies 25.1 (2019): 86-112.

“Droit du Seigneur, Slavery, and Nation in the Poetry of Edward Rushton,” Studies in Romanticism 56.1 (2017): 15-35.

“Capturing the Likeness of Henry I of Haiti, 1805-1822,” Atlantic Studies 14.2 (2016): 127-151. Co-authored with Tabitha McIntosh.

“Writing over Haiti: Black Avengers in Martin Delany’s Blake,” Studies in American Fiction 41.2 (2014): 175-199.

“Insights on ‘Lord Hoth” and Ottobah Cugoano,” Notes and Queries 59 (2012): 367-369.

“Chester Himes, Boris Vian, and the Transatlantic Politics of Racial Representation,” African American Review 43.2-3 (Spring/Fall 2009): 247-262.

“‘Our Hero’: Toussaint Louverture in British Representations,” Criticism 50.4 (2008): 581-607.

“’Rock and a Hard Place’: Last Exit to Brooklyn, New York, Selby et le rock.” Volume! 1.2 (2002) (in French): 85-100.

Book Chapters

“Ted Joans, the Other Jones: Jazz Poet, Black Power Missionary and Surrealist Interpreter.” Radical Dreams: Surrealism and Counterculture, Abigail Susik and Elliot King eds. (Pennsylvania University Press, 2022): 43-60.

“Amiri Baraka and the Dream of Unity Music.” Some Other Blues: New Perspectives on Amiri Baraka, Jean-Philippe Marcoux ed. (Ohio State University Press, 2021): 108-120.

“Sable Warriors and Neglected Tars: Edward Rushton’s Atlantic Politics,” Race, Romanticism and the Atlantic, Paul Youngquist ed., Ashgate (2013): 125-144.

Encyclopedia Entry

“African Americans and Punk.” African American Culture: An Encyclopedia of People, Traditions and Customs, Omari L. Dyson, Judson L. Jeffries, Kevin L. Brooks eds. Vol. 3 (P-Z). ABC-CLIO/Greenwood (2020): 739-743.

 

Book Reviews

Reimagining Liberation: How Black Women Transformed Citizenship in the French Empire by Annette Joseph-Gabriel. H-France Forum 19 (2024).

An Islandwide Struggle for Freedom: Revolution, Emancipation, and Reenslavement in Hispaniola, 1789-1809 by Graham T. Nessler. Bulletin of Latin American Research 37.3 (July 2018): 373-5.

Dangerous Creole Liaisons: Sexuality and Nationalism in French Caribbean Discourses from 1806 to 1897 by Jacqueline Couti (review). H-France Review 18.58 (2018).

The Haitian Revolution in the Literary Imagination: Radical Horizons, Conservative Constraints by Philip Kaisary (review). Comparative Literature Studies 52.4 (2015): e1-e3.

The Colonial System Unveiled by Baron de Vastey, trans. And ed. Chris Bongie (review). Research in African Literatures 46.3 (Fall 2015): 243-244.

The Noir Atlantic: Chester Himes and the Birth of the Francophone African Crime Novel by Pim Higginson (review). French Forum 39.2-3 (Spring/Fall 2014): 215-217.

Racism on the Victorian Stage: Representation of Slavery and the Black Character, by Hazel Waters. African American Review 42.2 (2008): 24-27.

 

Public Scholarship

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever—Eternal Return of the Afro-Horn.” Evergreen Review (S/S 2023).

 

“Round the Decay: Umar Rashid, Art at the Edge of History.” In “Hard/Soft/Lost: The Edges of Contemporary Culture,” Sarah Wasserman ed. ASAP/J. 22 May 2023.

 

“Where are North Africa’s Jews?: Review of Aomar Boum and Nadjib Berber’s Undesirables: A Holocaust Journey to North Africa.” Africa Is a Country. 26 April 2023.

 

“Beyond the Cosmetic: A Conversation with Esther Armah.” LA Review of Books. 28 December 2022.

 

“Reconstruire l’humanité: un entretien avec Anne-Sophie Nanki.” Zist. 17 October 2022.

 

“Lettre et le fer.” Zist 24 (2022): 4-10. Online version: 8 August 2022.

 

“There is Danger in the Garden: Chié Shimizu’s ROJI.” ASAP/J. 23 June 2022.

“Decolonize the Family: A Conversation with Amandine Gay.” Los Angeles Review of Books. 25 May 2022.

“‘Remembering Is an Act of Protest’: A Conversation with Monique Kwachou.” Los Angeles Review of Books. 13 December 2021.

“What We Do to Define Ourselves: A Conversation with Zaka Toto.” Los Angeles Review of Books. 22 November 2021.

“Who Needs to See this (Again)?: On Raoul Peck’s Exterminate All the Brutes.” ASAP/Journal. 11 October 2021. Co-authored with Sarah Wasserman.

“Facing France’s Ghosts: A Conversation with Mame-Fatou Niang.” Los Angeles Review of Books. 19 July 2021.

“Aux racines du racisme systémique de la police.” Libération. 15 June 2020.

“We Wear the Masks.” Africa is a Country. 28 February 2020. < https://africasacountry.com/2020/02/we-wear-the-masks>

“Black Revolutionary Violence: The Luxury of Ethical Thinking from a Temporal Distance.” The Funambulist 25 (September-October 2019): 30-35.

“Henry Christophe Rebound: Juste Chanlatte’s Lost Play ‘Néhri’ and the Afterlife of the Kingdom of Haiti.” Age of Revolutions. 1 April 2019. Co-written with Tabitha McIntosh.

“Everything ends with a Song.” Africa is a Country. 14 July 2018.

“Cette équipe tue les fascistes.” (my French translation of the article below). 9 July 2018.

“Fear of a Black France.” 9 July 2018.

“Rio sur Seine.” Africa is a Country. 3 July 2018.

“Ghetto Defendants.” Africa Is a Country. 25 June 2018.

“Game of Chickens.” Africa Is a Country. 15 June 2018.

“Black Panther, Representation without Taxation.” Warscapes. 1 March 2018.

“To Be the Other of the Other: An Encounter with Frohawk Two Feathers.” ASAP/Journal. 7 December 2017.

Interviews and Podcasts

Host of  “Léonora Miano: A Glossary for Black Identities.” BookRising #38. October 3, 2023.

“The Politics and Poetics of Translation Part 1 and 2” with Tony Alessandrini. The Black Studies Podcast 2.2. August 17, 2023.

Guest on “Decolonize Hipsters with Grégory Pierrot.” Champagne Sharks 522, hosted by Trevor Beaulieu. April 23, 2023.

Interviewed for “Hat den Hipster-Lifestyle ein Rassismus-Problem?” (German) COSMO. WDR. October 28, 2022.

Guest on “Is France doing enough to commemorate the victims of slavery?” France 24. May 10, 2022.

Exhibition essay for “Umar Rashid: En Garde/On God.” Blum and Poe Gallery, November 6-December 18, 2021.

Host of webcast Decolonize That! With Bhakti Shringarpure (2020-2021).

Guest on “The Haitian Revolution.” Escape: The Underground Railroad Podcast.

Guest on “Slavery Then and Now; how does France address its colonial legacy?” The Debate. France 24. May 10, 2021.

Guest on “Underground Railroad.” Tous les cinémas du monde. Radio France International. May 5, 2021.

Guest on “What Is Common? What Is Good?” Ideas. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. April 6, 2021.

Guest on “La série Small Axe de Steve McQueen.” Interview with Elizabeth Lequeret. Rendez-vous Culture. Radio France International. February 26, 2021.

Guest on “Thinnai Katcheri: Decolonizing Independence,” with Suraj Yengde. Le Thinnai Kreyol, hosted by Ari Gautier and Ananya Jahana Kabir. August 14, 2020.

Guest on “Si, il y a une histoire raciste de la police.” Program B #375 (Binge Audioproject podcast). June 24, 2020.

“The Black Avenger in Atlantic Culture.” Interview by Adam McNeil. New Books Network. August 7, 2019.

Guest on “Episode 6: The Long Eighteenth Century. Revolt.” In Search of Black History with Bonnie Greer (Audible Podcast). August 1, 2019.