Achodo, David

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David Achodo

David Achodo is a Graduate Teaching Associate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he is pursuing his PhD in French with two certificates: Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate and Cinema Studies Graduate Certificate. A Graduate Certificate in Translation Studies accompanied his M.A. in French. Achodo earned a Bachelor’s Degree in “French and German” from the University of Ibadan. With his proficiency in French, English, German, Fon, and Yoruba, Achodo’s research has encompassed Translation Studies, Literature, Language, and Postcolonial Studies.

His passion for service and professional development fuels his active, productive involvement in the Graduate Student Senate, the Classroom Upgrade Committee, and the Student Government Association (among others) at the University of Tennessee. David Achodo is the “Collaboration Liaison—World Languages,” UT OneTouch, the “Primary Organizer and Founding Member” of the World Languages and Cultures Graduate Student Association, who did excellent work spearheading its formation.

As a Poet, David Achodo writes thought-provoking, metaphysical poems that evoke self-discovery and exploration of the unknown Forces of life that regulate all existence.

Personal Website

ORCID Profile

LinkedIn Profile

Publications

MA Thesis

Achodo, David. “Cultural Mediation: Challenges of Stylistic Translation in the Francophone African Novel.” Master’s Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2025. https://trace.tennessee.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/77cad970-570d-4a22-99d1-b2023163ea2a/content. Directed by Dr. Matthew Brauer.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

« Imaginaire écologique algérien: une lecture écocritique du paysage chez Delacroix, Fromentin et Djebar. » Manuscript in preparation.
“Of Translingual Spectrality: From Ourself into Postcolonial Textuality.” Manuscript in preparation.
« Le Bénin : Une étude sur l’angle sociolinguistique. » Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture, vol. 10, no. 1, art. 11, 2025.

Online Publications

“The Importance of Learner’s Experience and Proficiency Levels in Speech Learning through Interaction.” OASIS Summary of Saito, K., Suzuki, S., Oyama, T., & Akiyama, Y. (2021). Second Language Research,
“Focused Encounters as a Tool for Exploring Interaction in Second Language Learning and Teaching.” OASIS Summary of Atkinson, D., Burhan-Horasanlı, E., Sagre Barboza, A., Mejía-Laguna, J. A., Oguilve, V., & Ribeiro, A. D. C. (2023). International Review of Applied Linguistics, 2025.

Chapbook

My Night Ended Last Night. Voyage of Twenty-Eight Billion Years. Dachodo Press Chapbook Series, vol. 1, Dachodo Press, 2026. https://trace.tennessee.edu/handle/20.500.14382/62107.

CONFERENCE

“Tetradic Preservation of Low-Resource Languages and Cultural Memory.” Digitorium, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Sept. 2026.
“The Crosslingual Memory Archive as a Decolonial Initiative.” International Conference of the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, July 2026.
“From Orality to Ghostliness: Self-Translating the Haunted Self in African Literature.” Global North and Global South Perspectives on Literature, Linguistics, and Translation, The British University in Egypt, Cairo, Egypt, June 2026.
“Fon Morphosyntactic Issues in Translation.” Western Conference on Linguistics (WECOL), virtual conference, Nov. 2025.
“Cross-Cultural Communication: Translational Context of African Tonal Languages in the West.” Southeast African Language and Literature Forum Conference, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, Oct. 2025.
“On Translating Francophone African Authorial Style: How Translators’ Choices Affect English Audiences.” Journée de Doctorant.e.s ADEFFI (ADEFFI PG Symposium), Association des études françaises et francophones d’Irlande, Ireland, Sept. 2025.
“Current Critical Issues in Cultural Diversity (Re)Presentation Through Machine Translation: The Fon Language in Western Context.” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Virtual Symposium, virtual symposium, Lansdowne, PA, July 2025.
“On Phonetic Transfer: What Are the Obstacles to Fonphone Learners of French?” Southeast Conference for Languages, Literatures and Film, Stetson University, DeLand, FL, Feb. 2025.
“The Politics of Translation (By Spivak).” UT Translation Symposium, poster presentation, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, Apr. 2024.