USA Professor to Lecture in Japan

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Posted on July 21, 2023

Joy Washington

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Dr. Matthew Pettway, associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature at the University of South Alabama, has received invitations this summer to give a public lecture at Doshisha University and Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan.

Pettway will first lecture at Doshisha on Wednesday, July 26. The title of his talk is “African Honeypot: Forging Third Gender Identity in the Portuguese Colonial World.” During his lecture, Pettway will examine the life of Vitória  an androgynous African enslaved circa 1556 in the kingdom of Benin, which was located in what is now modern Nigeria.

“I am honored to have been invited to speak at two of Japan’s distinguished universities,” Pettway said. “Regarding my first lecture, which is my new body of work, I will explore pre-colonial African conceptions of manhood and third-gender identity.”

At 2 p.m. on Thursday,  July 27, Pettway will give his second lecture at Ritsumeikan University. But, in the United States, the talk will be at 12 a.m. central time. Japan is 14 hours ahead of Mobile. Pettway will lecture in English and present details from his book, “Cuban Literature in the Age of Black Insurrection:  Manzano, Plácido and Afro-Latino Religion.” Pettway will be introduced by Professor Ambo in Japanese. Click here to view the lecture.

“I spent eight years of research, traveling and writing to complete my book, and I am pleased to be able to continue sharing this work,” he noted. “The title of this talk is “In Search of My Brother: The Ghosts of Slavery in Black Colonial Cuba.”

Diverse audiences including scholars, researchers, students, faculty, staff and the communities of Kyoto, Japan have been invited to attend both lectures. 

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