A native of Senegal, in West Africa, Professor Diop dubs himself “a highly migratory academic species.” He holds a Ph.D. in French from Western University in Canada (2016), an MA in Comparative Literature from Brown University (2010), and both a BA in Germanic Studies from Université de Liège in Belgium (2004), and in English Studies from the University of Dakar (2000).

His ongoing research focuses on cross-media analysis, cultural semiotics, textual pragmatics, and translation in postcolonial contexts, with a special emphasis on contemporary francophone Africa. Professor Diop has completed several translation projects in English, including the first full-fledged, scholarly biography of filmmaker Sembene Ousmane, Ousmane Sembene: The Making of a Militant-Artist (Samba Gadjigo, Indiana University Press, 2010), short fiction from contemporary West African writers, and essays by French and Francophone scholars. He recently co-translated Boris Diop’s Wolof/French novel, Doomi Golo: The Hidden Notebooks (Michigan State University Press, 2016), and is currently at work on an abridged book version of his doctoral dissertation on African film and literary adaptations.