Lorraine Affourtit

Dr. Lorraine Affourtit serves as Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Culture in the Department of Art at Appalachian State University, with additional affiliation in the Gender, Women’s Studies, and Sexuality Studies program.

Her academic credentials include a Ph.D. in Visual Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Humanities from San Francisco State University, and a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Specializing in the visual culture of social movements across the Americas—with concentrated focus on Latin America—her research critically examines intersections of art activism, decolonization, and democratic practices. Key thematic pillars include feminist movements, indigenous perspectives, visual semiotics, and democracy studies, all contextualized within contemporary political struggles.

Dr. Affourtit's scholarly contributions appear in Semiotics, Journal of Labor Studies, Third Text, and Ethnic Studies Review, reflecting interdisciplinary engagement with visual politics and social change.

Award recognitions include:

• Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship
• Visiting Fellowship from the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies
• Blum Center Graduate Fellowship in Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy

Her current book manuscript The Visual Politics of Decolonial Democracy in the Oaxaca Commune analyzes visual strategies within Mexico's Oaxaca social movement, emphasizing how grassroots collectives deploy imagery to construct decolonial democratic frameworks. This work extends her mentorship of students exploring visual culture's role in resistance movements.