Biography
Michael Garcia is an associate professor of literature at Clarkson University. A native of rural Idaho, he is the son of an immigrant, and a first generation college graduate. He enjoys hiking and the commingling of tranquility and adventure that comes from living in a small town near the Adirondacks, yet also close to an international border.
Education Background
Ph.D. - Cornell University
B.A. - University of Nebraska
Courses Taught
- American Gods
- American Short Story
- The Sacred and Profane in American Literature
- Great American Authors
- Science Fiction
- Disaster Lit
- Philosophy for Life
Teaching Interests
- American Literature
- Short Stories
- Science Fiction
- Philosophy for Life
Research Interests
Michael Garcia's research and teaching interests range from the work of essayist Richard Rodriguez to Latino literature, Ethnic literature, and 20th century American Literature, as well as more interdisciplinary inquiries.
Awards
- Fulbright Fellow (Indonesia); [nominated for: Phalanx Commendable Service and Leadership Award, 2018 (nomination only)]
Publications
- Autobiography in Black and Brown
- Translator of (following a year as a Fulbright Fellow in Indonesia) Djenar Maesa Ayu’s award-winning collection of short stories, They Say I'm a Monkey
- "The Trans-Religious Ethics of Kingdom of Heaven" chapter in The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott
- "Literary Nonfiction" chapter in Latino/a Literature in the Classroom: Twenty-first-century approaches to Teaching
- "Jorge Luis Borges's 'The Lottery of Babylon' as Allegory for the Criminal Justice System" chapter in Prisons and Punishment: Reconsidering Global Penality
- Various articles on Latino Literature, Indonesian Literature, Vladimir Nabokov, and Jorge Luis Borges
Presentations:
- "Nabokov’s Index Puzzle: Exile and the Quest for Transcendence in Speak, Memory." Northeast Modern Language Associations (NeMLA) annual conference, Rochester, NY. 15-18 March, 2012.
- "The Prison Narrative as Secular Conversion Narrative: Writing as Salvation in Joe Loya's The Man who Outgrew his Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber." National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies conference. Pasadena, CA. 5 March, 2011."
- "Solving KenKen as Epistemological Inquiry." Arts and Sciences Seminar Series. Clarkson University. 8 September, 2010.
- "The Existential Ethnic Self of Richard Wright's Black Boy." 100 Years of Richard Wright conference. University of Utah, 2-5 April, 2009.