Samantha Pinto to Receive MLA’s William Sanders Scarborough Prize

December 4, 2014—The Modern Language Association of America (MLA) announced on December 3 that it will award its thirteenth annual William Sanders Scarborough Prize to Associate Professor of English Samantha Pinto, for her book Difficult Diasporas: The Transnational Feminist Aesthetic of the Black Atlantic (New York University Press). 

Established in 2001, the William Sanders Scarborough Prize is awarded for an outstanding scholarly study of African American literature or culture. The prize is one of sixteen awards that will be presented on January 10, 2015, during the association’s annual convention in Vancouver. 

“I am honored and truly humbled to be in the company of the amazing scholars who have won this prize in the past,” Pinto said. “The generous support and incredible depth of intellectual engagement from my department here at Georgetown—and across the institution—is a huge part of any success this book might claim in the world. I am particularly thrilled that the prize recognized work that included not just African American but also African Diaspora literature this year.”

Pinto teaches courses on African, African American, postcolonial, and feminist studies. Her work has been published in Meridians and Atlantic Studies, and she has received fellowships from the Harry Ransom Center and the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas, Austin.