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Professor Lizelle Bisschoff is a Professor of Film Studies at the University of Glasgow’s School of Culture & Creative Arts. She specializes in African cinema with particular focus on gender representation, digital technologies, and film festival curation. Her research bridges academic scholarship and practical initiatives, such as co-founding the Africa in Motion Film Festival (AiM). She holds a PhD from the University of Stirling and has held prestigious fellowships including the Leverhulme Trust (2010-2012) and Lord Kelvin Adam Smith (2012-2015). Education: PhD in African Cinema (University of Stirling, 2009) MSc in Cultural Studies (University of Edinburgh, 2005) Research Interests: Gender dynamics in African filmmaking Emerging digital film industries across sub-Saharan Africa Postcolonial cinema and modernist aesthetics Her work emphasizes decolonizing film studies through projects like AiM Festival and edited volumes such as Women in African Cinema . Recent research explores African science fiction and feminist archives. She has secured £115k in grants for film restoration and educational outreach programs. Awards: Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship AHRC Follow-on Funding for Impact (£90k) British Federation of Women Graduates Scholarship Teaching: Convenes MSc Film Curation program Teaches Introduction to African Cinemas and Race on Screen Key Projects: Lead curator for Africa’s Lost Classics restoration initiative Organized international symposia on African art and activism

• Gender and African cinema
• African film festivals
• African film and digital technologies
• +4 more

Jennifer Gómez Menjívar is Professor and Director of the M.A. in Media Industries and Critical Cultural Studies at the University of North Texas. Her research examines historical and ethno-linguistic movements influencing text production, circulation, and reception across print media, screen cultures, and digital communities. With over 18 years of teaching experience, she previously held positions at international organizations including the UNECE and UNDP. Her scholarly interests span media linguistics, film adaptation, digital activism, hemispheric animation histories, Indigenous sovereignty media, and Spanish-language media. Her publications demonstrate interdisciplinary work bridging media studies, cultural history, and postcolonial theory. Her extensive publication record includes books such as Tropical Tongues: Language Ideologies, Endangerment, and Minority Languages in Belize (2018) and Black in Print: Plotting the Coordinates of Blackness in Central America (2023), as well as co-edited volumes on Indigenous technology and hemispheric Blackness. She received a Senior Research Fellowship at Freie University Berlin for her upcoming work on Indigenous sovereignty media. Gómez Menjívar teaches courses including Introduction to Graduate Studies in Media Arts, Women in Film, and Global Media. She also mentors students in critical media analysis and serves as faculty advisor for media research projects.

• Media Linguistics
• Film Adaptation
• Digital Activism
• +3 more

Charles Athanasopoulos is an Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies & English at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on intersections of Black rhetorics, media, and culture, with expertise in The Black Radical Tradition, Rhetorical Theory, and Cultural Critique. He earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric & Communication from the University of Pittsburgh. His work analyzes racial progress, public symbols, and post/Ferguson America through lenses of iconoclasm and critical race theory. Education: Ph.D., Rhetoric & Communication, University of Pittsburgh. Research interests span Black American and Diasporic Cinema, Afro-Caribbean and Greek-Roma identity critiques. He has published in venues like Lateral: The Journal of the Cultural Studies Association and Western Journal of Communication. His 2024 book Black Iconoclasm explores dismantling racial symbols in public discourse. Recent articles address Fanonian thought, anti-racist campus rhetoric, and transnational Blackness studies. His publications critically engage with visual activism, film analysis, and decolonial theories. Current projects include studies on sonic rhetorics in Black women’s music and global race discourses in Mediterranean contexts.

• The Black Radical Tradition
• Rhetorical Theory
• Cultural Critique
• +3 more

Joshua B. Guild is an Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. He is also an Associated Faculty member in the Program in Urban Studies and has been involved with the Center for Digital Humanities. His scholarly work bridges historical research with public engagement and digital innovation. His education includes a PhD in History and African American Studies from Yale University and an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, where he was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. Professor Guild's research centers on 20th- and 21st-century African American social and cultural history, urban history, and the modern African diaspora. His interests include migration, black internationalism, black popular music, and the black radical tradition. He is deeply engaged in the digital humanities and public scholarship, organizing seminars and contributing to podcasts and public exhibitions. The recent publications and projects reflect a strong focus on urban Black communities, transnational migration, and cultural politics. Themes include the Great Migration, postwar New York and London, New Orleans after Katrina, and the Black 1980s. His work combines historical analysis with cultural critique and social justice advocacy. Scientific Awards and Fellowships: Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship Ford Foundation Fellowship Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Award Charles Warren Center Fellowship (Harvard University) W.E.B. Du Bois Institute Fellow (Harvard University) Professor Guild has advised graduate students through seminars and collaborative projects, though no individual students are named. He has led initiatives supported by institutional grants, particularly in digital humanities and public engagement. His leadership in the 'Black Studies in the Digital Age' seminar and editorial work on the 'Black 1980s' special issue demonstrates his commitment to advancing the field through interdisciplinary collaboration. He is affiliated with the Program in Urban Studies and the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton, where he contributes to shaping curricula and research directions in African American Studies and digital scholarship.

• African American History
• Urban History
• Black Diaspora
• +8 more

Juan Eduardo Wolf is an Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Oregon's School of Music and Dance. He holds a PhD in Folklore and Ethnomusicology from Indiana University (2013), alongside degrees in Chemical Engineering and Art Studio from prestigious institutions. His research focuses on music-dance traditions of Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities in Latin America and the Caribbean, exploring decolonial methodologies and cultural equity. He directs the Latin American Studies Program and coordinates the World Music Series, which hosts global music performances. His awards include grants from UO's Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies (2018) and Global Oregon (2018). Wolf teaches courses like Decolonizing Music, Music in World Cultures, and directs World Music Ensembles focusing on Andean and Puerto Rican traditions. His research examines how marginalized groups use music-dance to resist colonial legacies, with fieldwork in Chile, Puerto Rico, and Bolivia. He is a core faculty member in Folklore and Public Culture Programs and advises on Latinx Studies initiatives. Notable publications include Styling Blackness in Chile (2019), analyzing Afro-Chilean music-dance, and Un Tumbe Ch’ixi (2021), integrating Afro-descendant ideas into Andean methodologies. His work challenges colonial frameworks and advocates for socially just music science practices. He performs as a percussionist/guitarist in global ensembles and mentors students through experiential learning.

• Ethnomusicology
• Latin American Studies
• Decolonial Thought
• +7 more

Dr. Elaine Richardson is a Professor of Literacy Studies in the Department of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University. Her work focuses on African Diasporic literacies, discourse studies, and gender studies. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from Cleveland State University and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. B.A. and M.A., Cleveland State University Ph.D., Michigan State University Her research explores language, literacy, and discourse practices in Afro-diasporic communities, with emphases on sociolinguistics and critical discourse analysis. She co-edited key texts like Understanding African American Rhetoric and Hiphop Literacies , and her outreach includes youth empowerment projects. Notable awards include the Cleveland State University Distinguished Alumni Award (2007) and Fulbright Scholar Award (2004). Her work bridges academia and community through projects like cultural literacy initiatives and hip hop education networks.

• African Diaspora Literacies
• Discourse Studies
• Gender and Literacy Studies
• +3 more

Ana Paulina Lee is an Assistant Professor of Writing and Digital Humanities in the Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing Department at the American University of Paris. She joined AUP in 2025 after teaching Latin American literature and culture at Columbia University for eight years and serving as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Tulane University. Her interdisciplinary scholarship bridges literature, history, law, and urban studies with particular focus on marginalized narratives in the Americas. Ph.D. from University of Southern California M.A. from New York University B.A. from Binghamton University Professor Lee's research examines how stories—archival, fictional, oral—shape legal imagination, social life, and urban experience in the Americas. She specializes in the intersections of magic, law, and literature in Latin America, with particular focus on Asian and African diasporas in Brazil. Her work traces how narrative functions as both historical record and catalyst for social transformation, exploring themes of slavery, emancipation, colonial legacies, and urban memory. She approaches these topics through interdisciplinary lenses combining literary analysis with histories of labor, migration, and performance. Lee's recent publications reveal a consistent focus on marginalized narratives and their impact on social structures. Her scholarship connects legal history with cultural production, showing how magical thinking and narrative practices shape urban spaces and social relations. Works like 'Urban Sorcery, Segregation, and Spectacle in Twentieth-Century Rio de Janeiro' and 'Black Magic City' demonstrate her innovative approach to understanding the relationship between occult logics and legal frameworks in Brazilian contexts. Her research on diasporic communities, particularly Chinese and Japanese experiences in Latin America, contributes significantly to transnational and comparative race studies. David B. Larson Fellowship in Health and Spirituality, Kluge Center, United States Library of Congress (2025-2026) National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2025) Social Sciences Research Council, Inaugural Recipient of Interdisciplinary Projects in the Social Sciences (2020-2023) Institute for Ideas and Imagination Fellowship, Columbia University in Paris, France (2021-2022) Provost's Tsunoda Senior Fellowship, Visiting Scholar, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan (2019) Heyman Center Fellow, The Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia University (2017-2018) Fulbright, Lisbon, Portugal (2013-2014) Professor Lee's scholarly activities have been generously supported by major research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Sciences Research Council, and the Library of Congress. Her work demonstrates a commitment to interdisciplinary approaches that bridge humanities and social sciences, particularly through projects examining intersections of race, migration, and cultural production in the Americas. Her publication 'Socially Engaged Oral History Pedagogy Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic' indicates a strong commitment to innovative teaching methods and community-based research. While specific details about current advisees aren't provided, her research program suggests engagement with graduate students interested in diaspora studies, urban history, and literary-cultural analysis. Though not explicitly mentioned in the available information, Professor Lee's research on urban spaces, magic, and law in Brazil likely involves collaborative work with scholars across disciplines. Her participation in centers like the Institute for Ideas and Imagination at Columbia University suggests engagement with interdisciplinary research communities focused on global cultural production and social transformation. Her work contributes to ongoing conversations about how narrative practices shape legal frameworks and social structures in the Americas, particularly regarding racial formation and diasporic experiences.

• Literature and the social imagination in the Americas
• Slavery, emancipation, and the legacies of colonialism
• Magic and the state in Latin American cultural texts
• +3 more

Robin Moore is a Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on the intersections of music, race, nationalism, and socialist art aesthetics in Latin America and the Caribbean. He has authored significant works including Nationalizing Blackness , Music and Revolution , and Music of the Hispanic Caribbean . Key Research Areas: African Diaspora music, Cuban music, Caribbean music, race relations in music, music curriculum reform Academic Contributions: Co-author of Danzón: Circum-Caribbean Dialogues in Music and Dance , which explores the hybrid origins of danzón and its influence on early jazz in New Orleans Scientific Awards: Béla Bartók Award for Outstanding Ethnomusicology Book Robert M. Stevenson Award from the American Musicological Society

• Music of the African Diaspora
• Music of Cuba
• Music of the Hispanic Caribbean
• +5 more

Elena A. Schneider is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley, holding the Sonne Chair in Latin American History. Her research focuses on Cuba, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic World, emphasizing colonialism, slavery, and the experiences of marginalized communities. She specializes in histories 'from below,' particularly the roles of African-descended peoples in imperial conflicts and diasporic movements. Education: PhD in History (Princeton University), MA in History (Princeton University), AB in History & Literature (Harvard University). Her first major work, The Occupation of Havana (2018), examines the British siege of Havana (1762-1763) and its impact on colonial empires and enslaved populations. The book has received multiple prestigious awards, including the James A. Rawley Prize and the Bryce Wood Award. Current research includes maritime marronage in the Caribbean and Afro-Cuban returnees to West Africa in the 19th century. Teaching interests span imperialism, slavery, race, and revolution in Latin America and the Atlantic World, integrating art, film, and music into pedagogy. She advises graduate students on diverse topics in Latin American, Caribbean, Indigenous, and Atlantic histories. Recent publications explore themes like enslaved agency, transatlantic migration, and colonial military dynamics. Awards include the Hellman Fellowship (2017) and the Naomi Wulf Prize (2013). Research fellowships include the NEH Postdoctoral Fellowship (2011-2013) and the Huntington Library's Kemble Fellowship (2022-2023).

• Latin American History
• Caribbean Studies
• Atlantic World History
• +4 more

Glenn Chambers is the Interim Dean of the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) at Michigan State University and holds the rank of Professor of History. He previously served as Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Honors College, Director of the African American and African Studies Program, and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the Office of Undergraduate Education. Education: Ph.D. in Latin American and Caribbean History from Howard University. Research focuses on Modern Caribbean history, particularly the social and cultural experiences of African-descended populations in former British colonies post-emancipation. Key interests include U.S. political/economic expansion in the Caribbean and Central America, immigration patterns linked to labor dynamics, and transnational migration to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Recent work explores Caribbean and Central American communities in New Orleans. Publications include two monographs: Race, Nation, and West Indian Immigration to Honduras, 1890-1940 (2010) and From the Banana Zones to the Big Easy (2019). Co-edited New Frontiers in the African Diaspora (2018) and authored journal articles. Currently researching a biography of jazz saxophonist Eric Dolphy, linking his musical legacy to broader Afro-Diasporic migration narratives. No scientific awards explicitly noted. Advising/grants sections remain unpopulated due to lack of specific data. No formal lab affiliations mentioned.

• Modern Caribbean History
• African Diaspora Studies
• Immigration and Migration Studies
• +3 more

Keith Obadike is a Professor in the Department of Art at Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), where he also serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies. He is an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist and composer, known for his collaborative work with Mendi Obadike, which spans sound art, digital media, public installations, performance, and internet-based projects. His artistic and academic work critically engages with technology, race, history, and identity. Obadike earned a B.A. in Visual Art from North Carolina Central University and an M.F.A. in Sound Design from Yale University. Prior to joining Cornell, he taught at William Paterson University and held visiting positions at Princeton University, Columbia University, Northwestern University, and the Art Institute of Chicago. His research and creative practice focus on sound art, digital media, public art, performance, and collaborative practice , with strong interdisciplinary connections to Afrofuturism, data sonification, and social justice. He explores how sound and technology mediate racial identity, memory, and liberation, notably through the concept of acousmatic blackness , which he and Mendi developed to describe the racial perception of sound when its source is unseen. Obadike’s selected works include large-scale public sound installations such as Blues Speaker (for James Baldwin) , Free/Phase , Compass Song (Times Square Arts), and GuideStar (Space Needle, Seattle). His projects often use data sonification, archival research, and mythic storytelling, blending historical inquiry with futuristic vision. Notable series include the Opera-Masquerades , Americana Suites , and Numbers Station works, which transform databases of violence into sonic experiences. His honors include: Rockefeller New Media Arts Fellowship (2004) Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award (2015) New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction New Music USA Creator Development Fund (2022) Obadike has received commissions and support from institutions such as the Vera List Center, Harlem Stage, Times Square Arts, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities. He has exhibited and performed at The New Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. His writings and publications include contributions to Studies into Darkness (2022), and artist books such as Four Electric Ghosts and Big House / Disclosure (both 2014). He has also released albums like Crosstalk (2008) and created internet artworks such as Blackness for Sale (2001) and The Interaction of Coloreds (2002), which are foundational in new media and critical race art. While specific advisees are not listed, his role as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Professor indicates active mentorship. His work is deeply collaborative, often co-created with Mendi Obadike, and supported by interdisciplinary teams and institutions.

• Sound Art
• Digital Media
• Interdisciplinary Art
• +12 more

Sonya Maria Johnson is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Critical Identity Studies, and the Mouat Junior Professor of International Studies at Beloit College. She holds a Ph.D. (Dual Major in Anthropology and African American & African Studies) from Michigan State University, an M.A. in Anthropology from Michigan State University, and a B.A. (Dual Major in Anthropology and Ethnic Studies) from the University of Colorado-Boulder, summa cum laude. Her research focuses on religion and ritual in the African Atlantic Diaspora, particularly examining how communities like those practicing Palo Monte/Mayombe in Cuba construct ethical frameworks through ritual and healing. She explores epistemologies of marginalized communities to challenge racialized binaries. Her teaching emphasizes radical pedagogies, fostering spaces for critical dialogue on identity, power, and social equity. Johnson’s publications include Radical Care: Pedagogies of the Heart (forthcoming, University of Colorado Press) and contributions to volumes on ritual and pilgrimage. Her work integrates qualitative field research methods from Cuba, Ghana, and the Caribbean. She is recognized for innovative teaching, prioritizing 'radical empathy' and professional agility in her mentorship. Her approach emphasizes holistic student development, integrating communication skills and ethical practice into academic and vocational training.

• Religion and ritual
• Culture, identity, and power in the African Atlantic Diaspora
• Cuba
• +7 more

Suzie Telep is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and European Union Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A linguistic and cultural anthropologist, she examines intersections of language, race, and artistic production within the African diaspora in postcolonial France. Educational background includes a PhD in Linguistics from Paris Cité University, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, and affiliations with institutions like Stanford University and University of Angers. Her research focuses on race, gender, and language ideologies in Black diasporic communities, particularly Cameroonian immigrants in Paris, analyzing practices like 'whitisation' (accent mimicry) and Afro-feminist aesthetics in digital media and fashion. Key methodologies blend ethnographic fieldwork with arts-based research , exploring how language and performance negotiate identity in contexts shaped by anti-Black racism and colonial legacies. Scientific awards include the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship (2021) and the Richard Mille - La Francophonie en Débat prize (2021) . Her creative work includes a multimedia performance-lecture, My Afropean Musical Journey , presented at conferences like the African Studies Association and Unsettling Images, Engaging Fictions.

• Linguistic Anthropology
• Sociolinguistics
• Race and Ethnicity
• +8 more

Yesenia Barragan is an Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University, where she has been teaching since 2019. Specializing in Modern Latin American and African Diaspora History with a focus on race, slavery, and emancipation, she is a leading scholar in 19th-century Atlantic and Pacific world studies. Her academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Latin American History from Columbia University, where she was a Ford Foundation Fellow, and a B.A. in Philosophy and History from Brown University, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and Beinecke Scholar. Ph.D. in Latin American History, Columbia University B.A. in Philosophy and History, Brown University Professor Barragan's research centers on the intersections of race, slavery, and emancipation in the 19th-century Americas. Her groundbreaking work examines how gradual emancipation processes paradoxically strengthened slaveholders' interests in Colombia, while also exploring Latin America as a destination for African American freedom seekers during the antebellum period. Her scholarship bridges historical analysis with contemporary social justice concerns, particularly regarding race and structural inequality. Her publications reveal a consistent focus on the Colombian Black Pacific region, with particular attention to gender dynamics, legal frameworks of slavery, and the lived experiences of enslaved and free Black populations. The trajectory of her work moves from legal and economic aspects of slavery toward broader examinations of freedom movements, diasporic connections, and contemporary legacies of racial injustice. Her research demonstrates exceptional geographic scope, spanning the Atlantic and Pacific worlds while maintaining deep regional expertise in Colombia. 2022 Wesley-Logan Prize for best book on African diaspora history 2022 Best Book Award for the 19th Century Section of LASA 2023 Early Career Book Prize from Rutgers University Center for Cultural Analysis 2022 Antonine Tibesar Prize from the Conference on Latin American History National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2022-2023) Professor Barragan is deeply committed to mentoring, particularly first-generation students and those from underrepresented backgrounds. She serves as Principal Investigator for 'The Free Womb Project,' a multilingual digital collection of gradual emancipation laws, and convenes the interdisciplinary 'Slavery + Freedom Studies Working Group' at Rutgers. Her grant portfolio includes significant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and various fellowships supporting her book projects on African American migration to Latin America during the antebellum period. As a first-generation daughter of Latin American immigrants and longtime social justice activist, Professor Barragan brings personal experience to her public scholarship work, which includes serving as a Country of Origin Information Expert for Colombian asylum cases and contributing to platforms like Black Perspectives and Telesur.

• Latin American History
• African Diaspora History
• Race Studies
• +4 more

Jafari S. Allen is a Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University, where he directs the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS). He holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Columbia (2003), and previously served as Director of the Program in Africana Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Miami. His research bridges anthropology, Black studies, and queer studies, focusing on transnational Black queer life, diasporic identity, and ethnographic methodologies. Major works include There’s a Disco Ball Between Us (2022) and ¡Venceremos? (2011), exploring Black queer theory and Cuban self-making. He has been awarded the 2023 Gregory Bateson Book Prize for his theoretical contributions. Allen’s interdisciplinary work spans curatorial projects, museum collaborations, and global initiatives like the Miami Initiative on Global Black Studies. His research emphasizes decolonial praxis, Black fullness, and the intersections of art, activism, and scholarship. Education: Columbia University (Ph.D. 2003), New York University (1998), Morehouse College (1990). Awards: Gregory Bateson Book Prize (2023), Ruth Benedict Prize Honorable Mention (2022). Research Interests: Queer Black diasporic theory, cultural anthropology, ethnography, Black feminist thought, transnational social movements, and the politics of memory.

• African Diaspora Studies
• Gender and Sexuality Studies
• Social Movements
• +4 more