About

Dr. Jerome Masamaka is a Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Ghana, Legon. His research and creative practice lie at the intersection of ecocriticism, African literature, postcolonial studies, environmental humanism, and creative writing, with emphasis on how literature engages climate transformation, nonhuman advocacy, and global Black solidarities.

As both a literary scholar and a published poet, Dr. Masamaka’s work explores the capacity of the lyric voice, postcolonial narratives, and indigenous literary strategies to reframe global conversations on ecological justice and postcolonial Black revival. 

His poetry appears in anthologies and poetry journals in Africa, Australia, Singapore and the United States.

Education

•          Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in English and Creative Writing, Murdoch University, Western Australia

•          Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in English, University of Ghana, Legon

•          Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English, University of Ghana, Legon

Fellowships & Awards

•          Green Leaves / Red River International Poetry Fellowship (2023), Centre for Stories & Red River Press

Research Interest

Dr. Masamaka’s scholarly work explores environmental literature, postcolonial disillusionment and utopian writing across African and Diaspora contexts.

His major research interests include:

•          African Ecocriticism & Ecopoetics

•          Environmental Transformations & Climate Change Poetry

•          Postcolonial & Utopian Literature

•          Nonhuman Agency & Zoocritique

•          Creative Writing & Lyric Voice Dynamics

•          Black Diaspora Literature

Publications

Books & Creative Works

Masamaka, J. (2023). Under the Tattered Roof. Red River Press / Centre for Stories.

Journal Articles & Book Chapters

Masamaka, J. (2026). Revisiting nonhuman agency in African ecocriticism: The precarity of coastal life in the poetry of Kofi Awoonor and Kofi Anyidoho. Journal of the African Literature Association, 20(1), 47–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/21674736.2025.2609021

Masamaka, J. (2024). What can the lyric voice do in climate change poetry? A re-reading of Andrew Motion’s ‘The Sorcerer’s Mirror’. Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism, 28(1–2), 65–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2024.2345102

Masamaka, J. (2022). Chiming for the Clime: ‘GLocal’ Dynamics and Aesthetic Trends in Climate Change Poetry [Doctoral dissertation, Murdoch University].

Masamaka, J. (2020). Literary totemism and its relevance for animal advocacy: A zoocritical engagement with Kofi Anyidoho’s literary bees. In Environmental Transformations (Vol. 38, pp. 11–23).

Masamaka, J. (2020). Ayi Kwei Armah’s secular egalitarian Africa: An authentic vision or a utopian dialectic. In Narrating African FutureS (pp. 99–111).

Masamaka, J. (2021). Review of The Owl Inside by Ivy Ireland. Westerly Magazine, 66(1), 116–119.

Masamaka, J. (2020). Review of Letters to Our Home: Creative Reflections on the Climate Crisis, edited by Vivienne Glance and Elio Novello. Westerly Magazine, 65(2), 115–117.