Barish Ali, Ph.D.

Barish Ali received his B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus and his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University at Buffalo, where he won an Excellence in Teaching Award. He is also the recipient of the Muriel A. Howard Award for the Promotion of Equity and Campus Diversity for his advancement of Middle Eastern studies at Buffalo State. He comes to Buffalo State from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, where he was an assistant professor in the Department of English and Philosophy. In addition to teaching for the English Department, he is a core faculty member of the Africana Studies program.

Barish specializes in postcolonial literature, literary theory, and popular culture. As a citizen of both Canada and Cyprus, Barish is a comparatist in all respects; accordingly, his teaching and research experience is wide ranging, encompassing European, British, Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern, and Turkish literature. He has presented his research at conferences in Canada, Mexico, Turkey, Cyprus, Ireland, and the United States and his articles on Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell, Lawrence Durrell’s Bitter Lemons, Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red, Victorian boys’ adventure stories, and David Bowie have appeared or are forthcoming in various journals and books.

Barish has also directed Buffalo State’s Summer in Istanbul study tour, which was a month-long study abroad program that explored the ethnic and cultural diversity of Istanbul, Turkey. The program, which took place at Boğaziçi University, combined the rigorous academic study of the region’s history and literature with a culturally immersive experience of Turkish culture.