Biography
Nathan H. Dizeis a teacher, scholar, and translator of Haitian and Francophone Caribbean literature. His work is situated at the crossroads of literary and intellectual history, cultural studies, translation studies, and the digital humanities. Nathan is particularly interested in how literature enables Haitians to practice intimate and collective rites of mourning across generations and beyond national borders. His current book project, Resting Places: Haitian Literature and the Practice of Mourning is a study of how Haitian authors use literature and literary practices like archiving, editing, publishing, and translation to frame personal and collective grief as well as to designate a place where the memories of loved ones may lay in rest.
Nathan is the translator of three Haitian novels: The Immortals by Makenzy Orcel (SUNY Press, 2020), I Am Alive by Kettly Mars (UVA Press, forthcoming), and Antoine des Gommiers by Lyonel Trouillot (Schaffner Press, forthcoming). He has written or translated for publications such as archipelagos, Caribbean Quarterly, the Journal of Haitian Studies, LitHub, sx salon, and Words Without Borders. He is also a founding member of the kwazman vwa collective, which amplifies the work of emerging Caribbean authors, and a member of the Editorial Board of Reading in Translation.
He is the content curator, translator, and coeditor of the digital history project A Colony in Crisis: The Saint-Domingue Grain Shortage of 1789. With Siobhan Meï, he coedits the “Haiti in Translation” interview series for H-Haiti. He is also a member of the digital history project Rendering Revolution: Sartorial Approaches to Haitian History.
In 2021–22, Nathan will teach French language courses at the beginner and intermediate levels as well as an advanced survey of Francophone Caribbean women’s literature entitled “Order, Disorder, and Freedom in Women's Caribbean Literature.”
