Degrees
Ph.D., Southern Illinois University, 1985
MS.Ed., Southern Illinois University, 1979
B.A., University of Witwatersrand-Johannesburg, 1971
Biography
Dr. Barbara Temple-Thurston was born and raised in South Africa where she did her undergraduate degree before coming to the U.S. in 1976. She completed her PhD in Illinois, and then taught at a few colleges in US (South Dakota, Virginia, and North Carolina). She joined PLU in 1990 where she teaches mostly African and Caribbean literature, as well as general Postcolonial literature and theory. Her research interests cover issues of globalization and cultural diversity, as well as Africa and the African cultural diaspora, particularly in the Caribbean. She published a book on Nobel-prize winner Nadine Gordimer (South African), and numerous articles on African and Caribbean literature. Barbara has been very active in study abroad and international education at PLU. She has led students on January courses to Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa, and built and continues to direct PLU's fourteen year old semester abroad program in Trinidad and Tobago. In January 2006, she took students to Namibia on a Human Rights and Development course. In the summers of 2005, 2006 and 2007 Barbara led the orientation for the Lutheran Colleges’ Consortium in Tanzania. She continues to direct the PLU Gateway Program in Trinidad and Tobago and manages the scholarship program for Trinbagonian students studying at PLU.