About
Matthew Rarey is an Associate Professor of Art History at Oberlin College, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. He holds a PhD (2014) and MA (2008) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BA (2005) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the art history of the Black Atlantic, particularly West Africa, Brazil, and Portugal from the 17th to 21st centuries. He examines how visual objects created by Africans and their descendants reveal interconnected histories of slavery, racial formation, and religious practice.
Recent achievements include his award-winning book Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic (2023), which analyzes 17th-19th century amulets as tools of survival. His current projects explore maroon community maps and contemporary Black artists' engagements with diasporic landscapes. He has curated notable exhibitions such as Afterlives of the Black Atlantic (2019), honored with a 2020 Association of Art Museum Curators Award.
Teaching includes courses on African art, diaspora visual culture, and sacred arts of Vodou/Santería. His work bridges art history, critical race theory, and decolonial methodologies, emphasizing close visual analysis and primary source engagement with theoretical frameworks of Blackness and colonization.
- Education:
- PhD, Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2014)
- MA, Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2008)
- BA, Art History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2005)
- Awards:
- 2024 Charles Rufus Morey Book Award (College Art Association)
- 2024 Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication Award
- 2020 Association of Art Museum Curators Award
