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Kamari Clarke is a Professor at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Professor at UCLA. Her work bridges Legal Anthropology , Affect Theory , and Transnationalism , focusing on the interplay between legal institutions, human rights, and globalization. Education: Ph.D., Anthropology (UC Santa Cruz, 1997) M.Phil., Anthropology (UC Santa Cruz, 1994) M.A., Anthropology (New School for Social Research, 1993) M.S.L., Yale University Law School (2003) B.A., Political Science (Concordia University, 1988) Research Interests span Culture and Power , Legal Anthropology , Religious Nationalism , and Geospatial Technologies . Her scholarship examines how International Law and Human Rights are mediated through transnational and African diasporic frameworks. Key Publications include Affective Justice (2019), Fictions of Justice (2009), and Mapping Yoruba Networks (2004). She has also co-edited volumes on Law and Society and African Withdrawals from the ICC . Scientific Awards 2019 Royal Anthropological Institute’s Amaury Talbot Book Prize 2019 Elliot Skinner Book Award Finalist 2021 Guggenheim Prize for Career Excellence 2024 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Advising : Clarke is not currently accepting students. She has served as a technical advisor to the African Union Legal Counsel , producing policy reports on International Law and UN Challenges . Her Labs and Teams engage interdisciplinary approaches to Transitional Justice , Legal Pluralism , and Anthropology of Expertise .

• Legal Anthropology
• Affect Theory
• Transnationalism
• +9 more

Anne A. Cheng is a Professor of English at Princeton University, affiliated with the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Committee on Film Studies. She is an interdisciplinary scholar focusing on aesthetics, politics, and race, with expertise in literary theory, critical race studies, film theory, feminist theory, and psychoanalysis. Her work bridges 20th-century American literature, visual culture, and Asian/African American literatures. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, an M.A. from Stanford, and a B.A. from Princeton. B.A., English & Creative Writing, Princeton University M.A., English & Creative Writing, Stanford University Ph.D., Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley Her research explores racial grief, modernist aesthetics, and the intersections of race, gender, and visual culture. Her books include The Melancholy of Race (2001), Second Skin (2013), and Ornamentalism (2019). Current projects address race, food studies, and animal studies. Cheng leads initiatives like Critical Encounters—a series fostering art-theory dialogues—and the American Studies Collaboratory, a cross-disciplinary lab examining identity, citizenship, and cultural dynamics through law, arts, and social sciences.

• Literary Theory
• Critical Race Studies
• Film Theory
• +6 more

Agnes Lugo-Ortiz serves as Associate Professor of Latin American Literature in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago's Division of the Humanities. Her scholarly profile centers on nineteenth-century Latin American literatures and Caribbean cultural histories within transatlantic frameworks of modernity, with particular emphasis on slavery, visual culture, and archival epistemology. Her educational foundation includes a PhD from Princeton University (1990), followed by teaching appointments at Northwestern University and Dartmouth College before her tenure at Chicago. Her research trajectory examines cultural politics through lenses of national identity formation, anti-colonial projects, and diasporic community reconfigurations, notably through decades of affiliation with the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project. Lugo-Ortiz's current book project "The Plantation Gaze: Slavery and Visual Culture in Colonial Cuba (1727–1886)" interrogates the imbrication of visual culture with plantation slavery, analyzing diverse artifacts from religious performances to medical treatises. Her co-edited volume "Slave Portraiture in the Atlantic World" and co-founding of the Working Group on Slavery and Visual Culture (2016) demonstrate her leadership in visual studies of enslavement, recently expanded through the digital exhibit "Palimpsests: Visual Idioms of Enslavement in the Nineteenth-Century and Their Afterlives". Her scholarly impact is recognized through awards including the Latin American Studies Association Prize for Best Essay in Nineteenth-century Studies and the Premio Alejandro Tapia y Rivera. Prestigious fellowships from Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Franke Institute, and Clark Art Institute have supported her research. As co-founder and co-editor of the anti-colonial digital journal "Categoría Cinco. Revista de Política y Cultura", she actively engages Puerto Rican decolonial politics. Her editorial service spans PMLA and University of New England Press publications, while advisory roles include the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Project and Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. She maintains robust institutional engagement through affiliations with Chicago's Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Center for Race, Politics, and Culture.

• Latin American Literature
• Caribbean Cultural Histories
• Slavery and Visual Culture
• +5 more

Samantha N. Sheppard is an Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University, where she also serves as Department Chair. Her research and teaching focus on race, gender, and representation in film, television, and digital media, with a particular emphasis on Black visual culture and sports cinema. Education: While specific degree details are not provided in the text, she holds a PhD and is recognized as a leading scholar in cinema and media studies. Research Interests: Sheppard’s work spans global cinema, sports films, African American film history, women filmmakers, and Blackness on screen. She is known for her concept of "critical muscle memory," which explores how Black athletic bodies are represented and remembered in media. Publications and Media: She is the author of Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen (2020), co-editor of Sporting Realities: Critical Readings of the Sports Documentary (2020) and From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry (2016). She has also contributed essays and criticism to The Atlantic , Flash Art International , and Los Angeles Review of Books . Current Projects: She is currently working on two book projects: The Basketball Film: A Cultural and Transmedia History (under contract with Rutgers University Press) and A Black W/hole: Phantom Cinemas and the Reimagining of Black Women's Media Histories . Awards and Honors: She was selected as a 2021 Academy Film Scholar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Public Engagement: Sheppard is a frequent speaker and consultant on film and media, and she organizes the "Voices & Visions in Black Media" lecture series at Cornell.

• Cinema and Media Studies
• Race and Representation in Film
• Gender and Media
• +5 more

John L. Jackson, Jr. is the Richard Perry University Professor and Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds appointments in the Department of Anthropology, Annenberg School for Communication, and Africana Studies. His research bridges race theory, visual anthropology, and media studies, focusing on topics like globalization, critical race theory, and urban studies. Jackson earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University (2000) and B.A. in Communication from Howard University (1993). He has produced award-winning documentaries including Bad Friday and co-founded CAMRA, an initiative advancing visual ethnography. His work includes influential books such as Thin Description (2013) and Racial Paranoia (2008), exploring racial identity and media representation. Jackson has served as Dean of the Annenberg School and School of Social Policy & Practice, emphasizing interdisciplinary scholarship and diversity initiatives. His teaching awards and leadership underscore his commitment to innovative academic practices. Key achievements include editing Oxford Bibliographies in Anthropology and producing films screened globally. His research spans media ethnography, religious studies, and diaspora communities, with grants from NSF and Ford Foundation. Jackson’s labs CAMRA and Center for Experimental Ethnography pioneer multimodal research methods.

• Ethnographic Film and Visual Studies
• Critical Race Theory
• Globalization, Transnationalism, and Diaspora
• +5 more

Autumn M. Womack is an Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies and the Department of English at Princeton University. Her work bridges literary scholarship, archival research, and curatorial practice, with a focus on 19th- and 20th-century African American literary culture. She teaches courses on African American literature, race and media, and Toni Morrison’s creative process, often incorporating the Toni Morrison Papers housed at Princeton University Library. Her research centers on the intersections of literature, visual technologies, and archival practice. She is particularly interested in how material evidence—such as photographs, letters, and manuscript drafts—reveals new dimensions of black life and aesthetic production. Her pedagogy emphasizes critical engagement with primary sources, encouraging students to let archival objects guide their inquiry rather than imposing preconceived theses. Womack’s recent publications and projects reflect a strong focus on African American literary history, data and racial representation, and the creative process of major writers like Toni Morrison and Charles Chesnutt. Her work spans archival exhibitions, scholarly monographs, critical editions, and public-facing essays in venues like The Paris Review , Los Angeles Review of Books , and The Times Literary Supplement . Modern Language Association’s William Sanders Scarborough Prize (2022) Shortlisted for the Modernist Studies Association’s First Book Prize She has advised numerous students through her courses and research supervision, though specific names are not listed. Her curatorial leadership of the exhibition Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory exemplifies her commitment to public scholarship and interdisciplinary collaboration. She is currently working on a book titled The Wanderer , exploring Morrison’s creative process, and co-editing a volume on Morrison and Black archival practice with Kinohi Nishikawa. Womack’s lab or research team includes graduate students and collaborators engaged in archival research, literary analysis, and curatorial projects centered on the Toni Morrison Papers. Her future work continues to expand the understanding of black literary life through material culture and narrative innovation.

• African American Literary Culture
• Archival Practice
• Visual Technologies and Media History
• +7 more

Eden K. Osucha is an Associate Professor of English at Bates College, specializing in 19th- and 20th-century American literature, African American studies, legal studies, and critical race theory. Her research examines intersections of race, privacy, and identity through law, literature, and media. She co-curated public humanities projects like Violence and Belonging: The 14th Amendment and American Literature and Site Seeing: 9/11 Through Documentary Shorts . Awards include the Mrs. Giles Whiting Fellowship and Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. Her book manuscript, The Post-Racial Past: Race, Privacy and Identity Before the Obama Era , traces legal privacy’s racialized origins. She teaches courses on 9/11 literature, early American lit, and queer studies. As co-curator of the Literary Arts Live series, she brings prominent writers to campus including Colson Whitehead and Dinaw Mengestu. Key Affiliations: Programs in American Cultural Studies, African American Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies Public Engagement: Maine Humanities Council collaborations, SPACE Gallery curation Recent Work: Explores 14th Amendment legacies, post-racial ideology, and surveillance studies Award-winning poet and creative writing advocate, Prof. Osucha’s interdisciplinary approach bridges literature, law, and visual culture. Her research highlights how racialized privacy frameworks shape contemporary discourses on race and identity.

• Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century American Literature and Culture
• African American Studies
• Legal Studies
• +8 more

Brittnay Proctor-Habil is an Assistant Professor of Race and Media in the School of Media Studies at The New School. Her research focuses on performance, popular culture, and sound/visual culture at the intersection of blackness, gender, and sexuality. She authored Minnie Riperton’s Come to My Garden (2022) and is currently working on two book projects: one tracing Black Southern migration to California through sound, and another analyzing funk music’s gender and sexuality discourses via LP records and CDs. Proctor-Habil holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University and a B.A. from the University of California, Riverside. Her scholarly work spans platforms like Essence.com , Journal of Popular Music Studies , and ASAP/Journal . She teaches courses such as Black Feminist Media Methods and Blaxploitation Films , and supervises thesis projects. Her writing often intersects cultural critique, Black studies, and interdisciplinary methodologies.

• Race and Media
• Black Studies
• Gender and Sexuality
• +3 more

Nicole Files-Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Mass Communications Department at Lincoln University. Formerly a television producer and writer, she brings industry experience to academia. She earned her PhD in Mass Communications and Media Studies from Howard University, where she also obtained graduate certificates in Women’s Studies, Distance Learning, and Preparing Future Faculty. Her interdisciplinary research explores marginalized groups through the lenses of Communication Studies, Gender Studies, and Cultural Theory. Key areas include: Sexual identity formation and negotiation Intersectionality in media representations Queer theory applications in tourism spaces Critical pedagogy in digital environments Race/ethnicity dynamics in mass communication Her publications engage with popular media texts like Beyoncé’s Formation, Noah’s Arc, and Love & Hip-Hop. These works examine power dynamics, identity performance, and cultural critique through feminist and queer frameworks. Scientific achievements include: Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation award (Fethiye, Turkey) Leadership roles in National Communications Association (NCA) and Eastern Communications Association (ECA) Pioneering curriculum development for students of color As an educator, she has developed 24 communications courses, mentored students through research initiatives, and implemented pathways to graduate school. Her professional engagement spans both academic leadership and intersectional analyses of media systems.

• Communication Studies
• Media Studies
• Gender and Sexuality Studies
• +5 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

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

Nadia Ellis is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, affiliated with the Department of African American Studies. Her research focuses on African diasporic, Caribbean, and postcolonial literatures and cultures, exploring intersections of queer theory, diasporic aesthetics, and migrancy. She holds a PhD in English from Princeton University, an MPhil from Oxford University, and a BA from the University of the West Indies (Mona). Her work has been supported by prestigious fellowships including the AAUW, SSRC, Hellman Faculty Fellows Fund, and residencies at Berkeley’s Townsend Center for the Humanities and the Institute for International Studies. Key research topics include sexuality and archives in postwar London, electronic musics in political disasters, and performance cultures in Jamaica. Ellis teaches courses on postcolonial literature, black diasporic culture, and queer theory. Her book Territories of the Soul: Queered Belonging in the Black Diaspora (2015) examines structures of belonging through a queer lens. Office hours are held Tuesdays at Wheeler Hall, room 452.

• African Diaspora Studies
• Caribbean Literature
• Postcolonial Studies
• +3 more

Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. serves as the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music within the Department of Music at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts & Sciences. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is a preeminent scholar of African American music history, also active as a pianist, composer, and cultural critic whose work bridges academic and public spheres through performance, production, and community engagement. His research interrogates African-American and American musical traditions, with deep expertise in jazz, cultural studies, popular music, film studies, and historiography. Ramsey examines how music functions as a site of cultural memory, racial identity, and social commentary from slavery to the present, particularly through the lens of Black expressive forms including bebop and hip-hop. Ramsey's major publications, such as The Amazing Bud Powell and The Transformation of Black Music , reveal a scholarly trajectory centered on diasporic connections, historical recovery, and the political dimensions of musical practice. His interdisciplinary approach integrates musicology with cultural theory to challenge conventional narratives in American music history. His scientific recognition includes: Election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences While specific details about graduate advising and research grants are not provided in the source material, Ramsey's leadership extends to community-based arts initiatives and major curatorial projects, demonstrating his commitment to public scholarship. He directs the band Dr. Guy’s Musiqology, produces the Musiqology Podcast, and founded Musiqology Rx—a community arts program serving under-resourced populations. Ramsey also co-curated the landmark exhibition "Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing" for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, highlighting his multifaceted engagement with music as cultural heritage.

• African-American Music
• Jazz
• American Music
• +4 more

Cherise Smith is the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in African American Studies and a Professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, with affiliations in the Art History department. She serves as Executive Director of the Art Galleries at Black Studies and is a renowned scholar in African American art, performance studies, and critical race theory. Education: Ph.D. in Art History, Stanford University (advised by Drs. Wanda Corn and Pamela Lee). Her research examines African American art, the history of photography, and how performance art interrogates racial, gender, and class identities. At UT Austin, she leads the Art and Archive Initiative, expanding collections and exhibition spaces for art by Black creators. Recent publications include Michael Ray Charles: Studies in Blackness (2020), which won the Charles C. Eldredge Prize, and Enacting Others (2011), analyzing identity negotiation in performance art by Eleanor Antin, Nikki S. Lee, Adrian Piper, and Anna Deavere Smith. Smith’s work has been funded by the Getty Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute. She has held curatorial roles at major institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She serves on editorial boards for American Art and Art Journal , and the Archives of American Art Journal’s Advisory Board.

• African American Art
• Contemporary Art
• History of Photography
• +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