Olga Rojer
Associate Prof Emerita
World Languages and Cultures
Degrees
PhD, University of Maryland MA, with distinction, American University BA, cum laude, Mount Holyoke College
Bio
Olga Elaine Rojer is Associate Professor of World Languages and Cultures. Her teaching and research interests include modern German history, literature, and film, Dutch Caribbean studies, and literary translation. Her recent research has emphasized the literature of the Caribbean creole language Papiamentu and post-colonial literature in Dutch. Rojer received a National Endowment for the Humanities Travel to Collections Award and a Pushcart Prize nomination for her translations of Dutch Caribbean fiction. She is the architect of the well-received translation series Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean, which introduces to English- language readers classic and popular fiction from her native region. Volumes in the series include: Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean: Diana Lebacs’ The Longest Month (De Langste Maand) (2022); Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean: Carel de Haseth’s Slave and Master (Katibu di Shon). A Dual-Language Edition (2012); and Founding Fictions of the Dutch Caribbean: Cola Debrot’s My Black Sister and Boeli van Leeuwen’s A Stranger on Earth (2007). Her early research focused on the German-Jewish Diaspora in Argentina. She is the author of Exile in Argentina: 1933-1945 (1989). Rojer was the College of Arts and Sciences nominee for the 1993 University Award for Outstanding Teaching. She is former Department Chair and German Studies Program Director. Rojer is also an award-winning screenwriter. Languages: Dutch, German, Papiamentu, Spanish.
