Associate Professor
Theatre Studies
Philip Uko Effiong has been teaching at the college level for over 20 years and holds a PhD in Drama from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He received his Master’s in Literature of the African Diaspora and Bachelor’s in English, both from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. Prior to joining Michigan State University (MSU) in the Spring of 2018, Philip taught drama, fiction, nonfiction, orature and writing at the University of Calabar, Nigeria; Regent University College of Science and Technology, Ghana; the University of Wisconsin, Madison; the University of Tennessee, Martin; the University of Delaware, Newark; Lincoln University, Pennsylvania and Morehouse College, Atlanta.
With a growing interest in interdisciplinarity, Philip teaches drama, fiction, nonfiction and history classes at MSU. His research interests also crisscross multiple disciplines and include: influences of European drama and Greek tragedy on African and African diasporic drama; war literature, particularly wars fueled by religion; misrepresentations of Fela Kuti and his music; postcolonial and post-apartheid African literature; historic narratives that redefine Africa; the Maroons of Jamaica; Biafra and the creation of a new diaspora; the African diaspora in India and the Philippines; and the oral tradition.
As a writing consultant, Philip has written documents covering development and healthcare for nonprofit, governmental and business organizations. He has also worked in information technology as an Oracle programmer.
Publications
Book
In Search of a Model for African American Drama. Lanham: University Press of America, 2000.
Articles
Review of anthology, African Women Playwrights (2009). CONTINUUM: A Journal of African/Diaspora Drama, Theatre and Performance. 3 Number 2: (November/December 2016).
“Unleashing Power from Within: Rejecting the Foreign Aid Farce.” West Africa Review 24 (2014): 22-40. Print.
“Forty Years Later, the War Hasn’t Ended.” The Nigeria Biafra War. Ed. Chima J. Korieh. New York: Cambria Press, 2012. 261-276. Print.
“Haya” and “Ginen.” Encyclopedia of African Religion. 2009. Print.
“Baraka, Amiri” and “Drama, African American.” Encyclopedia of Africa and the Americas. Vol. 1. 2008. Print
“Hansberry, Lorraine.” Encyclopedia of Africa and the Americas. Vol. 2. 2008. Print.
“Pageant, The African American” and “Shange, Ntozake.” Encyclopedia of Africa and the Americas. Vol. 3. 2008. Print.
“History, Myth, and Revolt in Hansberry’s Les Blancs.” African American Review 32:2 (Summer 1998): 273-283. Print.
“Civil Rights Movement in Literature” and “Nation of Islam in Literature.” Identities and Issues in Literature. Eds. David R. Peck and Eric Howard. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1997. Print.
Twenty entries on “Drama and Film.” Dictionary of Twentieth Century Culture. African American Culture Volume. 1996. Print.
“The Subliminal to the Real: Musical Regeneration in Ntozake Shange’s Boogie Woogie Landscapes.” Theatre Studies 39 (1994): 33-43. Print.
“Tracing the Nigerian Literary Heritage,” Nigeria: The People and Their Culture. Ed. J. U. Obot. Calabar: Wusen Press, 1987. 214-224. Print.
Manuscripts in Progress
Morning Song and Mildew (fiction), Diaries of a Housegirl (fiction), A Spider’s Sermon (fiction), My Biafran Passport (memoir), Bigmanism: Nigeria’s Personality Cult (collection of satirical essays), Shadrach: Odyssey of an Ex-Biafran (fiction)
Courses Taught at MSU
THR 332 (Topics in Theatre Studies)
IAH 205 (Africa and the World)
ENG 350 (African & African Diaspora Literature)
ENG 140 (Literature and Society)