Dr. Joseph Michael Kwanya

Lecturer - Literature

Literary scholar | Researcher | Editor | Peer Reviewer

Qualifications

PhD in English Studies, Stellenbosch University, South Africa; MA in Literature and BA in Literature and Political Science, University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Research Interests

My research explores African literature with a focus on feminist thought, speculative fiction, and narrative theory. I am particularly interested in how African writers use counterfactuals, myth, and alternative historiographies to reimagine history, identity, and futurity.

Publications

J. Kwanya . (2025) . Constructions of Home in the Unhomely: Home-making in Nnedi Okorafor’s Africanfuturist Narratives . Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies, [online] Volume , pp. 1-17. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23277408.2025.2491272?src=exp-la#abstract
J. Kwanya . (2024) . “We are More Than This”: Counterhistories and Female Voices in Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King . Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies, [online] Volume 11(1), pp. 40-56. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23277408.2024.2409498#d1e119
J. Kwanya . (2022) . Feminist Imaginings of African Futures: Counterfactual Mythmaking in Nnedi Okorafor’s The Book of Phoenix and Who Fears Death . Literary Geographies, [online] Volume 8(2), pp. 224-240. Available at: https://www.literarygeographies.net/index.php/LitGeogs/article/view/262
J. Kwanya . (2022) . “Turning the Fables”: Counterfactuality in Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift . Research in African Literatures, [online] Volume 53(3), pp. 51-64. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/article/900033
J. Kwanya . (2022) . “There is Another Woman in the Story”: Counterfactuality and Re-mythification in Jennifer Makumbi’s Kintu . English in Africa, [online] Volume 49(2), pp. 27-47. Available at: https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.4314/eia.v49i2.2
T. Odhiambo, J. Kwanya . (2022) . The ‘Perplexing African in China’: A Reading of Black Ghosts by Ken Kamoche . Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa, [online] Volume 13(1), pp. 63-74. Available at: https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jolte/article/view/226545

Projects

No Projects found.

Supervision

Completed Supervisions (MA)

  1. Kananelo Tsuene, MA in Literary Studies in English Dissertation (Rhodes University, South Africa), “Ethiopian Women Under Fire: Exploring Selected Narratives on the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.” Graduated in March 2026 (Second Supervisor)
  2. Otto Rwengabo Bekiita, MA in Literature Dissertation (Kabale University, Uganda), “Aesthetics of Social Protest in Stella Nyanzi’s No Roses from My Mouth and Susan Nalugwa Kiguli’s The African Saga.” Graduated in October 2025 (Lead supervisor).

Ongoing Supervisions (MA)

  1. Babra Akankwasa, MA in Literature Dissertation (Kabale University, Uganda), “Gendered Experiences of Environmental Disasters in Helon Habila’s Oil On Water and Nawal El Saadawi’s Love In The Kingdom Of Oil.” (2024; Lead Supervisor).
  2. Munturive Nshabaruhanga, MA in Literature Dissertation (Kabale University, Uganda), “Evolving Perspectives on Marriage in Selected Contemporary African Women’s Novels.” (2024; Lead Supervisor).
  3. Oscar Muhereza, MA in Literature Dissertation (Kabale University, Uganda), “Negotiating Ugandan Immigrant Identities in Jennifer Makumbi’s Manchester Happened.” (2024; Lead Supervisor).
  4. Lukuya Zaina, MA in Literature Dissertation (Kabale University, Uganda), “Metaphors of Resistance in Stella Nyanzi’s No Roses from My Mouth.” (2024; Lead Supervisor).
  5. Salavia Tumusingize, MA in Literature Dissertation (Kabale University, Uganda), “Contagion and Community in Lauren Beukes’ Afterland and Veronique Tadjo’s In the Company of Men.” (2025; Lead Supervisor).

Presentations

  •  “Ecological Agency and Pandemic Ethics in Véronique Tadjo’s In the Company of Men.” The 7 th Mashariki Literary and Cultural Studies Conference, University of Dar Es Salaam. 21 August-23 August 2025.
  • “Counterfactuals as a Method for Alternative Archiving in Africa.” Archiving, Memory and Method from the Global South conference, Makerere University. 16 October-20 October 2024.
  • “‘Yat Madit’: Dilman Dila’s Imagination of a Post-dictatorial Uganda.” 8th Es’kia Colloquium, University of the Witwatersrand. 31 July – 2 August 2024.
  • “Images, Songs, and the Disnarrated: Alternative Narratives of the Italo-Ethiopian War in Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King.” Rhodes African Studies Centre Seminar Series, Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa. 10 October 2023.
  • “Counterfactual Narratives and Power Structures in African Historical and Speculative Fiction.” The 6th Mashariki Literary and Cultural Studies Conference. Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. 23rd-25th August 2023.
  • “Images, Songs, and the Disnarrated: Alternative Narratives of the Italo-Ethiopian War in Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King.” Mashariki Article Writing workshop. Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. 22nd August 2023.

More Information

External Examinations   

  1. Lemekezani Harris Kantundu, MA (English Literature) Thesis (University of Malawi, Malawi), “Symbolic Interactionism: Functional Analysis of Crests, Chants, and Songs in Malawian Football,” (2026).
  2. Precious Tumwesigye, MA in Literature Dissertation (Makerere University, Uganda), “Representation of Socio-cultural and Political Change in the Poetry of Kagayi Ngobi,” (2025).

Peer reviewer for several reputable journals.

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