Monica L. Miller

Monica L. Miller is Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she has taught since 2001. Her scholarship bridges African-American literature, Black diaspora studies, fashion theory, and intersectional analyses of race, gender, and sexuality. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Her research examines:

• Twentieth/twenty-first-century African-American cultural production
• Black European identity formation
• Sartorial politics in the African diaspora
• Afro-Swedish narratives and multiculturalism
• Performance as diasporic expression

Miller's publications consistently engage with themes of racial identity, cultural belonging, and aesthetic resistance across media. Her recent work shows deepening focus on Scandinavian contexts, cinematic representations, and contemporary art.

Honors include:

• William Sanders Scarborough Prize (MLA)
• Modernist Studies Association Book Prize shortlist
• Gladys Brooks Teaching Award
• Mellon Foundation, Schomburg Center, and Woodrow Wilson grants

She currently leads the Africana Studies Department and is completing a monograph on Afro-Swedish identity while frequently contributing to museum exhibitions and cultural podcasts.