Sara Busdiecker

Dr. Sara Busdiecker is an Associate Professor of International Studies and Director of the African Diaspora Studies program at Spelman College since 2012. She holds a Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on marginalized Afro-Latin communities in Bolivia and Chile, emphasizing cultural performance, spatial identity, and grassroots activism. She has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork, including a two-year Fulbright-funded study in Bolivia for her dissertation on Blackness in Bolivian society.

Her scholarly contributions include analyzing Afro-Bolivian legal frameworks, Afro-Chilean border activism, and post-apartheid South African kinship dynamics. She has served as Regional Coordinator for the UN's Afro-descendant Human Rights Project in the Andean region and co-founded OJALA, an observatory studying legal instruments for Afro-Latin communities. Her work bridges academia and activism through publications, conference presentations (ASWAD, AAA, LASA), and multimedia projects like UN human rights workshops documented on YouTube.

Dr. Busdiecker teaches courses such as African Diaspora and the World, Activism in Afro-Latin America, and Global African Diaspora Cultures. She has received grants including the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund and UNCF/Mellon Fellowships. Her research emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to race, identity, and social justice in the Americas, particularly at the intersections of nationhood and diasporic belonging.