Dr. Michelle Bumatay selected as 2024 Stephen Risley Family Fellow

Dr. Michelle Bumatay, Assistant Professor of French, is the recipient of the 2024 Stephen Risley Family Fellow in the College of Arts & Sciences. The Stephen Risley Family Fellowship was established in 1999 by the late J. Stephen Risley Jr. to support junior faculty in research as they work toward tenure. This fellowship will support Prof. Bumatay as she finalizes her monograph "Black Bandes Dessinées: Black Comics in French," which is under contract with the Ohio State University Press. As the first study in English about Black artists from Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Caribbean who work in French, this book fills in the global map of work by Black artists since decolonization and demonstrates how their work has long theorized and contributed to broader discussions of representation and identity. The generous support of this fellowship will allow Dr. Bumatay to focus exclusively on revising the manuscript in light of the reader reports and working through the final production steps. Congratulations Prof. Bumatay!