Christopher Wise (born 1961) is a scholar and professor of English and Comparative Literature at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. Wise studied at Northwestern College (BA, 1984), the University of Oklahoma (MA, 1986), and the University of California, Riverside (PhD, 1992). His research interests include comparative literature, postcolonial studies, critical theory, Africa (particularly the Sahel), and the Middle East. In 1996-1997, he taught at the University of Ouagagdougou in Burkina Faso on a Fulbright Scholarship. During 2000-2001 & 2001-2002, he also taught at the University of Jordan, Amman on consecutive Fulbright Awards, where he developed graduate programs in American Studies and Islamic Studies.
Le Devoir de Violence: Roman, by Yambo Ouologuem (preface by Christopher Wise). Paris: Serpent ŕ Plumes, 2003.
The Desert Shore: Literatures of the Sahel, ed. by Christopher Wise. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001.
Littératures du Sahel: Langue(s), Langage(s), Parole(s) dans les Littératures du Sahel (co-ed. by Christopher Wise). Bellingham, Wash.: CamNexus/Kola Tree Press, 1998.
Developing American Studies at Arab Universities: Resources, Research and Outreach, co-ed. by Christopher Wise. Cairo: Egyptian-American Commission for Educational Exchange & U. S. Embassy, 2004
The Marxian Hermeneutics of Fredric Jameson, by Christopher Wise. New York: Lang, 1995.
The Parachute Drop, by Norbert Zongo (trans. by Christopher Wise). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2004.
Yambo Ouologuem: Postcolonial Writer, Islamic Militant, ed. by Christopher Wise. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999.
"Third World Literature, Postcolonial Studies, and Christianity," a special issue of Christianity and Literature, edited by Christopher Wise, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Autumn) 1995.
The Yambo Ouologuem Reader: The Duty of Violence, A Black Ghostwriter's Letter to France, and The Thousand and One Bibles of Sex, ed. & trans. by Christopher Wise. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008.
Derrida, Africa, and the Middle East, by Christopher Wise. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2009.
Being Arab: Arabism and the Politics of Recognition, ed. by Christopher Wise and Paul James. Fitzroy, Australia: Arena Publishing, 2010.
Chomsky and Deconstruction: The Politics of Unconscious Knowledge, by Christopher Wise. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2011.
Articles
Wise, Christopher. "Hawad." Encyclopedia of African Literature. Ed. S. Gikandi. London: Routledge, 2003. 218.
Wise, Christopher. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." The Chinua Achebe Encyclopedia. Ed. K. M. Booker. London: Greenwood Press, 2003. 115-116.
Wise, Christopher. "Notes from The Aladdin Industry: Or, Middle Eastern Folklore in the Era of Multinational Capitalism." The Emperor's Old Groove: Decolonizing Disney's Magic Kingdom. Ed. B. Ayres. New York: P. Lang, 2003. 105-113.
Wise, Christopher. "Pacéré, Titinga Frédéric." Encyclopedia of African Literature. Ed. S. Gikandi. London: Routledge, 2003. 430.
Wise, Christopher. "Paul Bowles and Islam." The Creative Circle: Artist, Critic, and Translator in African Literature. Eds. A. E. Overvold, R. K. Priebe, L. Tremaine. Trenton, N. J.: Africa World Press, 2003. 198-214.
Wise, Christopher. "Zongo, Norbert." Encyclopedia of African Literature. Ed. S. Gikandi. London: Routledge, 2003. 587.
Wise, Christopher. "The Figure of Jerusalem: Jacques Derrida's Specters of Marx." Christianity and Literature 54 (2004): 73-91.
Wise, Christopher. "Marxism, Geo-Thematics, and Orality-Literacy Studies in the Sahel." Historical Materialism 12 (2004): 261-288.
Wise, Christopher. "Brave Bird, Mary (Crow Dog) (1953-)." American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia. Eds. S. J. Crawford and D. F. Kelley. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005. 83-85.
Wise, Christopher. "Crow Dog, Leonard (1941-)." American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia. Eds. S. J. Crawford and D. F. Kelley. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2005. 190-192.
Wise, Christopher and R. Todd Wise. "A Conversation with Mary Brave Bird." American Indian Quarterly 24 (2000): 482-493.
Wise, Christopher. "El Hadjj Sékou Tall: A Grand Figure of the Sahel." Voices 4 (2000): 51-54.
Wise, Christopher, trans. "Key Concepts and Traditional African Society: Liberty, Equality, Human Rights, Duties, Prohibitions, Solidarity, Coexistence, Peace," by El Hadjj Sékou Tall. Voices 4 (2000): 55-63.
Wise, Christopher. "Norbert Zongo (1949-98)." Research in African Literatures 31 (2000): 232-233.
Wise, Christopher. "The Killing of Norbert Zongo," Perspectives on African Literatures at the Millennium, Edited by Arthur Drayton & Peter Ukpokodu. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2006: 252-260.
Wise, Christopher, ed. & trans. "The Triumph of El Hadjj Tall Oumar, as recounted by Mountaga Tall and Diana Seck." Voices 3 (2000): 29-33.
Wise, Christopher. "Deconstructionism and Zionism: Jacques Derrida's Specters of Marx." Diacritics 31 (2001): 56-72.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Epic Traditions of Africa, by Stephen Belcher. Comparative Literature Studies 38 (2001): 358-361.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Ken Saro-Wiwa: A Bio-Critical Study, by Femi Ojo-Ade and Ken Saro-Wiwa: Writer and Political Activist, ed. by Craig W. McLuckie and Aubrey McPhail. Research in African Literatures 32 (2001): 131-132.
Wise, Christopher, trans. "Wanderings: Bamako, Moscow, Delhi," by El Hadjj Sékou Tall. Journal of African Travel Writings 8/9 (2001): 77-94.
Wise, Christopher. "Saying 'Yes' to Africa: Jacques Derrida's Specters of Marx." Research in African Literatures 33.4 (2002): 124-142.
Razem, Reem. "The American Studies Program Revisited." [Interview with C. Wise] Campus News (Office of International Relations and Programs, University of Jordan) 134 (2002): 8-10.
Wise, Christopher. "Derrida and the Palestinian Question." Arena Journal 20 (2002/03): 167-185.
Wise, Christopher. "The Garden Trampled: or, The Liquidation of African Culture in V. S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River." College Literature 23 (1996): 58-72.
Wise, Christopher. and Cora Agatucci. "Historical Review of African-American Literature." English Postcoloniality: Literatures from Around the World. Eds. R. Mohanram and G. Rajan. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996. 137-143.
Wise, Christopher. "Moira Ferguson's Colonialism and Gender Relations From Mary Wollstencraft to Jamaica Kincaid." Notes on Contemporary Literature 26 (1996): 11-12.
Wise, Christopher. "Qur'anic Hermeneutics, Sufism, and Le Devoir de Violence: Yambo Ouologuem as Marabout Novelist." Religion & Literature 28 (1996): 85-112.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Faces of Islam in African Literature, ed. by Kenneth W. Harrow. Literature and Belief 16 (1996): 155-157.
Wise, Christopher. "Re-Orienting the Subject: Arab American Ethnicity in Ramzi M. Salti's Six Tales of Defiance from the Arab World." Ethnicity and the American Short Story. Ed. J. Brown. New York: Garland, 1997. 213-227.
Wise, Christopher. "Resurrecting the Devil: Notes on Ng?g?'s Theory of the Oral-Aural African Novel." Research in African Literatures 28 (1997): 134-140.
Wise, Christopher. "The Actuality of Frantz Fanon: Critical Fanonism, Thomas Sankara, and Islamic 'Resurgence'." Arena journal 12 (1998): 129-142,
Wise, Christopher. "The Chronicle of a Student Strike in Africa: The Case of Burkina Faso, 1996-1997." African Studies Review 41 (1998): 19-36.
Wise, Christopher. "In Search of Yambo Ouologuem." Research in African Literatures 29 (1998): 159-182.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of The Real Thing: Testimonial Discourse and Latin America, ed. by G. M. Gugelberger. College Literature 25 (1998): 206-210.
Wise, Christopher. "Yambo Ouologuem contre Malcolm X: L'Islam Afro-Américain Vu par un Musulman Africain." Analyses: Langages, Textes et Sociétés 6 (1998): 47-55.
Wise, Christopher. "Yambo Ouologuem dans la Postmoderne: les Débats Littéraires sur Le Devoir de Violence depuis 1985." Littératures du Sahel. Eds J. Paré, S. Sanou, C. Wise. Bellingham, Wash.: Camnexus/Kola Tree Press, 1998. 117-122.
Wise, Christopher. "Excavating the New Republic: Post-Colonial Subjectivity in Achebe's Things Fall Apart." Callaloo 22 (1999): 1055-1070.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Meaning and Being in Myth, by Norman Austin. Philosophy and Literature 14 (1990): 436-438.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Signatures of the Visible, by Fredric Jameson. Philosophy and Literature 15 (1991): 347-349.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Voice-Haunted Journey, by Eliud Martínez. Melus 17 (1991-92): 121-124.
Wise, Christopher. "The Politics of Ecstasy: Oliver Stone's 'The Doors' and 'Natural Born Killers,'" in *Postmodern Ethics, ed. by Marc J. LaFountain. Carrolton, GA: West Georgia College, 1995.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Fragments of Redemption: Jewish Thought and Literary Theory in Benjamin, Scholem, and Levinas, by Susan A. Handelman. Christianity and Literature 42 (1992): 166-168.
Wise, Christopher. "Jameson/Frye/Medieval Hermeneutics." Christianity and Literature 41 (1992): 313-333.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Camera Politica: The Politics and Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film, by Michael Ryan and Douglas Kellner. Rethinking Marxism 6 (1993): 139-141.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations, by Stephen Best and Douglas Kellner. Radical Philosophy Review of Books 8 (1993): 1-3.
Wise, Christopher. "The Whatness of Loulou: Allegories of Thomism in Flaubert." Religion & Literature 25 (1993): 35-49.
Wise, Christopher. "The Profane Illumination: Reflections from the Benjamin-Adorno Debate." Arena journal 2 (1993/94): 195-214.
Wise, Christopher. "The Case for Jameson, or, Towards a Marxian Pedagogy of World Literature." College Literature 21 (1994): 173-189.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Saints and Postmodernism: Revisioning Moral Philosophy, by Edith Wyshogrod. Christianity and Literature 43 (1994): 228-231.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of The Tao and the Logos: Literary Hermeneutics, East and West, by Zhang Longxi. Philosophy and Literature 18 (1994): 191-192.
Wise, Christopher. "Counterstatement on Gerald Graff's 'The Dilemma of Oppositional Pedagogy: A Response' and Gary Tate's 'Empty Pedagogical Space and Silent Students'." Left Margins: Cultural Studies and Composition Pedagogy. Eds. K. Fitts and A. W. France. Albany: State University of New York, 1995. 293-294.
Wise, Christopher. "The Dialectics of Négritude: Or, the (Post)Colonial Subject in Contemporary African-American Literature." Postcolonial Discourse and Changing Cultural Contexts: Theory and Criticism. Eds. G. Rajan and R. Mohanram. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995. 34-46. Wise, Christopher. "The Hammer and the Dove: Neitzsche, Foucault, and the American New Historicism." West Georgia College Review 25 (1995): 43-57.
Wise, Christopher. "Introduction: The Poetics of Disgrace." Christianity and Literature 45 (1995): 5-11.
Wise, Christopher. "Messianic Hallucinations and Manichean Realities: Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Christianity, and the Third World Novel." Christianity and Literature 45 (1995): 31-51.
Wise, Christopher. "Pee-Wee, Penley, and Pedagogy, or, Hands-On Feminism in the Writing Classroom." Left Margins: Cultural Studies and Composition Pedagogy. Eds. K. Fitts and A. W. France. Albany: State University of New York, 1995. 129-137.
Wise, Christopher. "(Post)Modernity/(Post)Coloniality: A Critical Response to Mark Poster's 'A Second Media Age'." Arena journal 5 (1995): 33-49.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of A History of Christianity in Africa, by Elizabeth Isichei. Christianity and Literature 45 (1995): 137-138.
Wise, Christopher. "Nyama and Heka: African Concepts of the Word." Comparative Literature Studies 43 (2006): 19-38.
Wise, Christopher. "Zionism Without Zionism: The Jacqueline Rose-Edward Said Exchange," Arena journal 28 (2007): 119-131.
Wise, Christopher. "The Enduring Legacy of Edward Said," Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2009): 137-142.
Wise, Christopher, "The Novel, Historiography, and the Griot Epic in the Sahel." Teaching the African Novel. Ed. G. Desai. New York: Modern Language Association, 2009: 154-175.
Wise, Christopher, "Arabism Now." Being Arab: Arabism and the Politics of Recognition. Ed. Christopher Wise & Paul James. Fitzroy, Australia: Arena Publishing, 2009: 3-18.
Wise, Christopher, "Arab Nationalism After Iraq: Gilbert Achcar in Conversation with Christopher Wise." Being Arab: Arabism and the Politics of Recognition. Ed. Christopher Wise & Paul James. Fitzroy, Australia: Arena Publishing, 2009: 167-182.
Wise, Christopher, "Arabism and Jihad in the Sahel," Being Arab: Arabism and the Politics of Recognition. Ed. Christopher Wise & Paul James. Fitzroy, Australia: Arena Publishing: 263-272.
Wise, Christopher. "Vive la France!" The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, August 28-3 September 2003, Vol. 14, No. 9: 7.
Wise, Christopher. "Honor Killing and Representation," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 2-8 July 2003, Vol. 14, No. 1: 12.
Wise, Christopher. "Mr. Bush's Roadmap to Failure," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 8-14 May 2003, Vol. 13, No. 45: 4.
Wise, Christopher. "Civilize Them With A Stick," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 24-30 April 2003, Vol. 13, No. 43: 4.
Wise, Christopher. "The Power of the Powerless," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 17-23 April 2003, Vol. 13, No. 42:4.
Wise, Christopher. "The Other War, Far From the Bullets," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 10-16 April 2003, Vol. 13, No. 41:4.
Wise, Christopher. "The Red Indians of Iraq." The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 3-9 April 2003, Vol. 13, No. 40: 12.
Wise, Christopher. "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 30 March - 2 April, Vol. 13, N0. 39:4.
Wise, Christopher. "Mr. Bush Writes 'The Rest' of History," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, Vol. 13, No. 36: 4 & 6.
Wise, Christopher. "This War Sucks, Mr. Friedman," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 6-12 March 2003, Vol. 13, No. 35: 4.
Wise, Christopher. "An End to American Realpolitik?" The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 11-19 February 2003, Vol. 13, No. 32: 4.
Wise, Christopher. "Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 30 January - 5 February, Vol. 13, No. 30: 11.
Wise, Christopher. "Loyalty to his own 'tribe,'" The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 23-29 January 2003, Vol. 13, No. 29: 7.
Wise, Christopher. "The Myth of Israeli Democracy," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 16-22 January 2003, Vol. 13, No. 28: 4.
Wise, Christopher. "The Image of Ma'an in U.S. Media," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 23 November - 4 December, Vol. 13, No. 21:4.
Wise, Christopher. "A Lesson in Oriental Journalism," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 7-13 November 2002, Vol. 13, No. 18: 4.
Wise, Christopher. "Race Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy," The Star: Jordan's Political, Economic, and Cultural Weekly. Amman, Jordan, 24-30 October 2002, Vol. 13, No.16: 4 &8.
Wise, Christopher. "Ben Laden, Bush -- Shared Rage and Thirst For Vengeance," The Jordan Times, Friday-Saturday, October 12-13, 2001: 5.
Wise, Christopher. Rev. of Islam, Ethics, Revolt: Politics and PIety in Francophone West Africa and Maghreb Narrative, by Donald R. Wehrs. Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Summer) 2010: 450-453.
