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Paulo Polanah

Paulo Polanah, Associate Professor

Paulo Polanah, Associate Professor
Paulo Polanah, Associate Professor

Department of Sociology
670 McBryde Hall 
225 Stanger Street
Blacksburg, VA 24061
540-231-5650 | ppolanah@vt.edu

Dr. Paulo Polanah is an associate professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Sociology.

  • Africana History
  • Colonial and Post-Colonial Theory
  • Africa and the Invention of Religion
  • Representation in Africana Experience
  • African and Western Metaphysics
  • Globalization and African Traditional Knowledges
  • Critique of Development and Aid Industries
  • Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholar Award, Virginia Tech
  • Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award, Department of Sociology, Virginia Tech

Journal Articles

2011 - “‘The Zenith of Our National History!’ National Identity, Colonialism, and the Promotion of the Portuguese Discoveries: Portugal 1930.” EJournal of Portuguese History, Vol. ( (2): 1-24.

2010 - “In the Vortex of Modernity: Writing Blackness, Blindness and Insight.” (with K. Percoda). Journal of Modern Literature, Vol. 34 (3): 31-46.

2009 - “To Discipline and Publish: Scottsboro and Narratives of Delinquency.” (with K. Percoda). Critical Criminology, Vol. 17 (3): 145-158.

2008 - “An Imperial Mystique: Colonial discourse and National Identity in Portugal, 1930-1945.” Portuguese Studies Review, Vol. 16 (1): 61-86.

2007 - “Neo-Colonial Avatars: Africa and the Discourse of Development.” International Journal of Africana Studies, Vol. 13 (2): 21-37.

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