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Alice Reagan is Professor of Professional Practice and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Theatre at Barnard College, Columbia University. She teaches directing, performance, and seminars on Zora Neale Hurston, Black performance, and AIDS activism, while also directing professionally across the U.S. Education: B.A., Bates College M.A., Tisch School of the Arts, New York University M.F.A., Columbia University, School of the Arts Her research and artistic practice centers on theatre directing, adaptation, new play development, and ensemble-based work , with a strong commitment to feminist and socially engaged theatre. She founded New Plays at Barnard , commissioning works by women-identified playwrights. Her recent and upcoming productions include Evelyn Brown (A Diary) , Cherry Orchard , Measure for Measure , and The Thanksgiving Play . Her recent publications and public scholarship focus on the revival of María Irene Fornés' work and the ethics of white educators teaching Black diasporic material, especially her influential 2019 article Teaching While White . The articles reflect a consistent engagement with race, pedagogy, classical reinterpretation, and feminist performance . Selected Awards & Honors: Named to Kilroys List, 2023 Individual Artist Grant, NYSCA, 2023 Cherry Orchard Teaching Excellence Award, 2022 Princess Grace Award Drama League Directing Fellow Berkshire Theatre Award nominations (9) She advises student productions and leads the New Plays at Barnard program, shaping the next generation of theatre artists. She has received grants from the Shubert Foundation and NYSCA. Her professional affiliations include Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, New Georges, and Wingspace Design. She is deeply involved in lab programs such as the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and Mabou Mines/SUITE. She leads the New Plays at Barnard initiative and collaborates with professional ensembles like Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble and Shakespeare & Company, bridging academic and professional theatre.

• Theatre Directing
• Performance Studies
• New Play Development
• +7 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

Inés Valdez is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University's Krieger School of Arts & Sciences. Her research bridges critical race and feminist theory with analyses of migration, transnationalism, empire, and racial capitalism. She has held fellowships from the Humboldt Stiftung, Global Arts & Humanities Society of Fellows, and the Princeton University Center for Human Values. Her 2023 book Democracy and Empire rethinks popular sovereignty through the Black radical tradition, winning the T.V. Paul Best Book Award. Earlier work includes Transnational Cosmopolitanism (2019), which redefines cosmopolitanism through global structures of domination. Her scholarship critiques empire's entanglement with democratic systems, emphasizing ecological responsibility and transnational solidarity. Recent publications explore anti-imperial sovereignty, Du Bois's ecological critiques, and Latinx political thought. She has contributed to journals like Contemporary Political Theory and Review of Politics , and her blog post Undoing Empire's Hold on Democracy (2024) addresses contemporary political crises. Valdez co-authored influential articles on migration politics and Kantian philosophy's racial dimensions. Her work integrates political theory with anticolonial praxis, advocating for transformative frameworks that challenge global hierarchies. She advises on transnational solidarity strategies and serves as a leading voice in decolonial and critical race studies.

• Political Theory
• Critical Race Theory
• Feminist Theory
• +5 more

Tithi Bhattacharya is a Full Professor in the Department of History at Purdue University. She holds a PhD from the University of London and is renowned for her work in South Asian history, Transnational Gender, Colonialism, and Global History. Bhattacharya is the author of influential books including Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence (Duke, 2024) and The Sentinels of Culture (Oxford, 2005), and co-author of the widely translated Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto (Verso, 2019). Her educational background includes a PhD from the University of London. This foundational training has equipped her to critically engage with colonial and postcolonial histories, Marxist theory, and feminist praxis. Bhattacharya's research interests span Social Reproduction Theory, Marxist feminism, and the intersections of class, gender, and colonialism. She examines how capitalism relies on the social reproduction of labor, particularly through gendered and racialized exploitation. Her work also addresses Islamophobia and the politics of fear in colonial and contemporary contexts, as seen in her book Ghostly Past, Capitalist Presence . Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on Social Reproduction Theory as a framework for understanding global capitalism and feminist resistance. Her articles frequently address the BRICS nations, anti-colonial movements, and the development of a feminism that centers the 99%. The multilingual nature of her work (appearing in over 30 languages) underscores its international impact. While specific scientific awards are not mentioned in the provided text, Bhattacharya's work has been published in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Asian Studies and South Asia Research , and she serves on the editorial boards of Studies on Asia and Spectre . Information regarding her advising of students and grant activities is not provided in the current text. Similarly, details about labs or research teams are absent.

• Social Reproduction Theory
• Feminism
• Marxist Theory
• +5 more

Aisha Durham is a Professor of Communication at the University of South Florida's College of Arts and Sciences, with affiliations in Humanities & Cultural Studies and Women's & Gender Studies. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2007) and has held academic positions at Texas A&M University and the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on Black feminist thought, autoethnography, and media/cultural studies. She is the award-winning author of Home with Hip Hop Feminism: Performances in Communication and Culture and a co-editor of Home Girls Make Some Noise! Key research areas include Hip Hop Feminism, intersectionality, and qualitative methodologies. Durham has received prestigious awards such as the NCA Marsha Houston Award and the Ellis-Bochner Award for autoethnography. She contributes to public scholarship through podcasts, media analyses, and international talks for outlets like CNN and NPR. Her work emphasizes democratizing knowledge and addressing systemic inequities in academia and culture. Professional activities include editorial board roles, advisory positions (e.g., Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap), and keynote speaking at institutions worldwide. Her recent publications explore pedagogical resistance, hiphop literacies, and Black feminist mentorship frameworks.

• Media and Cultural Studies
• Black Feminist Thought
• Autoethnography
• +3 more

Dotun Ayobade is an Assistant Professor of Performance Studies and Black Studies at Northwestern University. His research focuses on how embodied popular culture shapes community, justice, and activism in postcolonial West Africa, particularly examining the interplay of aesthetics and social performance in Nigeria. He holds a joint appointment across disciplines and has taught at the University of Texas at Austin and Brown University prior to Northwestern. His academic interests include African/Black Performance Theory, African Popular Culture, and the intersection of performance with postcolonial politics. He is currently completing a book on Nigeria’s Afrobeat Queens, analyzing their role in Fela Kuti’s music subculture, under contract with Indiana University Press. This work has earned him prestigious awards, including the University of Texas Continuing Fellowship and Brown University’s Salomon Award. His scholarly contributions span peer-reviewed journals like Dance Research Journal and Journal of African Cultural Studies , with articles exploring topics such as sonic embodiment in Nigerian music and the spatial poetics of protest. He also engages with public discourse through platforms like Africa is a Country , addressing issues like neoliberalism and cultural netizenship. Ayobade’s work bridges performance ethnography, gender studies, and postcolonial theory, emphasizing the agency of marginalized voices in shaping cultural narratives. His research integrates interdisciplinary methods to unpack how performance mediates between individual creativity and collective socio-political realities in Africa and its diasporas.

• African/Black Performance Theory
• African Popular Culture
• Performance Ethnography/Historiography
• +3 more

Amber M. Neal-Stanley serves as Assistant Professor of Curriculum Studies in Purdue University's College of Education, where her scholarship interrogates Black educational experiences through critical qualitative frameworks and faith-based liberation traditions. Her work centers on structural inequity, historical resistance, and humanizing pedagogical approaches grounded in Black radical thought. Education: Ph.D. in Educational Theory and Practice, University of Georgia M.S.W. in Social Work, University of Georgia B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies, Bowling Green State University Research Focus: Dr. Neal-Stanley's research synthesizes Black education studies, critical qualitative inquiry, and faith as transformative praxis. She examines historical Black women teachers' abolitionist traditions, the Black Church's role in early childhood education, and digital humanities for recovering marginalized educational histories. Her scholarship consistently centers re membering Black radical traditions while confronting anti-Blackness in educational systems through humanizing frameworks. Publication Trends: Recent publications (2021-2025) reveal three dominant trajectories: (1) Historical analyses of Black women educators' spiritual resistance, (2) Conceptual models for leveraging religio-spiritual capital against anti-Blackness, and (3) Digital methodologies for reconstructing Black educational history. Her work increasingly integrates Black feminist thought with critical race theory to address contemporary educational struggles. Scientific Recognition: Purdue University College of Education Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award (2023-2024) Research Fellow, The Crossroads Project at Princeton University's Center for Culture, Society, and Religion (2024-2025) Academic Leadership: Teaching graduate courses in critical theory, qualitative methods, and Black educational history, Dr. Neal-Stanley prepares educators to dismantle structural inequity. Her Detroit Public Schools background and social work experience inform community-engaged scholarship that bridges historical analysis with contemporary activism, particularly through faith-based resistance frameworks.

• Black Education Studies
• Critical Qualitative Inquiry
• Faith and Education
• +5 more

Auritro Majumder is Associate Professor of English at the University of Houston's College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, holding a courtesy appointment in the India Studies Program. His academic profile spans literary scholarship, critical theory, and intellectual history with a focus on non-Western perspectives. His educational background includes a Ph.D. in English from Syracuse University (2014), a Certificate in Critical Theory from Cornell University (2012), an M.A. (First Class) in English from Jadavpur University (2009), and a B.A. (First Class Honours) in English from Jadavpur University (2007). Majumder's research centers on peripheral internationalism and decolonial knowledge production , examining literary traditions across India, the Soviet Union, China, Latin America, and the United States. His work bridges literary theory , critical race studies , and global political movements , with particular emphasis on Bengali literature, caste-race intersections, and South-South cultural networks. His monograph Insurgent Imaginations: World Literature and the Periphery (Cambridge University Press, 2020) redefines world literature through non-Western frameworks. Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals consistent engagement with decolonial aesthetics , transnational solidarity , and subaltern epistemologies . His scholarship demonstrates interdisciplinary reach spanning literary studies, political theory, film criticism, and comparative intellectual history, with increasing focus on contemporary debates around planetary consciousness and peripheral modernities. His scientific recognition includes: Project Completion Grant, CLASS (2019) William Lee Pryor College Professorship (2018-2019) Research Progress Grant (2017) CLASS Research Funds (2016) New Faculty Summer Research Grant (2015) Majumder actively contributes to academic service as Executive Committee member of the Modern Language Association’s South Asian and South Asian Diasporic Language, Literature and Culture Forum, editorial board member for Mediations , jurist for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and reviewer for multiple international journals. He has lectured globally across North America, South Asia, Europe, and Brazil. His teaching portfolio includes courses on postcolonial literature, modern Indian literature, and graduate seminars in postcolonial theory. Current projects include a monograph titled The Global South in Literature and Theory and a co-edited anthology Cultures of the Cold War in South Asia .

• Literary and Critical Theory
• Postcolonial Studies
• World Literature
• +7 more

Rana Jaleel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at the University of California, Davis, within the College of Arts & Sciences. She holds multiple leadership roles, including Chair of the Cultural Studies Graduate Group, Chair of the Designated Emphasis in Feminist Theory and Research, Faculty Advisor for the Sexuality Studies Minor, and Co-Director of HATCH: The Feminist Arts & Sciences Initiative. She is also a 2021–2024 College of Arts & Sciences Dean's Faculty Fellow. Education: Ph.D. in American Studies, New York University J.D., Yale Law School MFA in Poetry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Rana Jaleel’s research centers on the politics of evidence, examining how harm is recognized or erased in legal, cultural, and political contexts. Her work critically engages with reproductive labor, race, gender, sexuality, property, and international law. She draws from feminist theory, critical ethnic studies, legal studies, and decolonial thought to interrogate the intersections of power, knowledge, and violence. Her interdisciplinary approach is reflected in her contributions across law, cultural studies, and creative writing. Her publications and editorial projects reveal a strong focus on racial capitalism, settler colonialism, queer/trans of color critique, and feminist legal theory. She explores how international legal frameworks for sexual violence are shaped by imperial and racial power. Her work frequently appears in journals such as Critical Ethnic Studies Journal , Cultural Studies , and Brooklyn Law Review . She has co-edited special issues on democracy, gendered citizenship, and racial capitalism, demonstrating a commitment to collective scholarly work. Scientific Awards: Author of Color First Book Award from Duke University Press for The Work of Rape Rana Jaleel is actively involved in academic service and mentorship. As Co-Director of HATCH and leader of the Write the Future! Lab, she fosters creative and critical scholarship among undergraduate students, particularly from women/queer/trans of color and transnational feminist perspectives. She serves on the Editorial Collective and Board of The Critical Ethnic Studies Journal and is a member of the American Association of University Professors’ Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Her leadership extends to admissions and curriculum development in interdisciplinary programs. She is co-editing a forthcoming issue of South Atlantic Quarterly on 'Queer/Trans of Color Transits and the Global Imaginaries of Racial Capitalism' and continues to develop projects that bridge creative practice, legal critique, and feminist theory.

• Gender Studies
• Sexuality Studies
• Women's Studies
• +12 more

Dr. Bryce Henson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication & Journalism at Texas A&M University, with an affiliation in the Africana Studies Program. He holds a PhD in Communications & Media from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, focusing on cultural studies and interpretative theory. His research bridges African Diaspora studies, global Black intellectual traditions, and media analysis, with a particular focus on Brazil and the Caribbean. Education: PhD in Communications & Media (Cultural Studies), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Graduate Minor in Latin American & Caribbean Studies Research: Henson examines Black cultural production in Brazil, including hip-hop, urban studies, and marronage/aquilombamento. His book Emergent Quilombos: Black Life and Hip-Hop in Brazil (2023) earned multiple awards, including the NCA Book of the Year Award. Current projects explore Brazilian Carnival’s entanglement with racialized violence and Lélia Gonzalez’s amefricanidade theory to analyze Pan-African connections beyond North America and Africa. Awards: 2024 NCA Critical/Cultural Studies Division Book Award 2024 NCA Ethnography Division Best Book Award 2024 Roberto Reis First Book Prize Honorable Mention Teaching & Grants: Henson teaches courses on Black media, global media, and critical ethnography. He received a 2023 Fulbright Distinguished Chair to research Brazilian Carnival at Universidade Federal da Bahia (2024). He advises students on qualitative methods and social justice research. Professional Roles: Advisory board member for the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD), Associate Editor of Transforming Anthropology , and active member of NCA, ASA, and BRASA.

• African Diaspora Studies
• Cultural Studies
• Global Black Intellectual Traditions
• +4 more

Ashley D. Farmer is an Associate Professor of History and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches courses on African American women's history, the Black Freedom Movement, and Black archival practices. Her scholarly work centers on Black women's intellectual production and activism, particularly during the Black Power era. Her research interests include African American History, African American Women's History, Black Political Thought, Intellectual History, and Radical Politics. Farmer's work challenges traditional narratives that marginalize Black women's contributions to social movements, demonstrating how Black women shaped and transformed political ideologies through intellectual work, community organizing, and cultural production. Farmer's scholarship reveals trends across Black women's intellectual history, showing how they developed intersectional frameworks for understanding oppression and liberation long before the term 'intersectionality' was coined. Her work connects historical activism with contemporary movements, highlighting the continuity of Black women's political thought across generations. Stone Book Award finalist Darlene Clark Hine Award honorable mention Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Award honorable mention Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study fellowship National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship Whiting Foundation fellowship Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer Farmer has advised numerous graduate students and served as a founding leader of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS). She is a regular blogger for Black Perspectives and co-editor of both the Black Power Series (NYU Press) and the Black Women History Series (UNC Press). Her research has been supported by significant grants from the Radcliffe Institute, NEH, and Whiting Foundation. Farmer directs research initiatives through the African American Intellectual History Society and contributes to the Black Perspectives online platform, which serves as a hub for scholars of African American history. Her work connects academic research with public engagement through media appearances on NPR, Al-Jazeera, and in publications like The New York Times and Washington Post.

• African American History
• African American Women's History
• Black Political Thought
• +5 more

Gina Stamm is an Associate Professor of French at the University of Alabama, Department of Modern Languages & Classics. Her work bridges environmental humanities, speculative literature, and queer/feminist theory, focusing on 20th-21st century French and francophone Caribbean literature. PhD in French, Emory University (2016), with certificates in Psychoanalytic Studies and Comparative Literature MA in French, Miami University (2010) Stamm specializes in ecocritical analysis , examining how surrealism, feminist utopias, and post-exotic literature engage with ecological crises. Her research spans topics like queer ecology , vegetal transhumanism , and postcolonial environmental trauma , often through interdisciplinary lenses combining psychoanalysis and postcolonial theory. Recent publications explore intersections of racial capitalism , intergenerational trauma , and botanical agency in francophone Caribbean contexts. She actively translates works like Antoine Volodine's Songes de Mevlido and participates in podcasts such as ASLE EcoCast, discussing plant-oriented critical theory and speculative narratives. Her scholarship contributes to evolving frameworks in ecopoetics , nonhuman subjectivity , and decolonial environmentalism , with affiliations to academic institutions in France and the Caribbean.

• Environmental Humanities
• Speculative Literature
• 20th-21st Century French and Francophone Studies
• +3 more

Leilane Menezes Rodrigues is an Assistant Professor at the Communication, Journalism & Media department within the College of Arts and Sciences at Suffolk University . Her work bridges two decades of frontline journalism with academic inquiry, focusing on media as a tool for liberation and social justice. Ph.D. from Michigan State University, U.S. MA from Universidade do Porto, Portugal BA from Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB), Brasil Her research explores intersections of digital journalism , critical race theory , and inclusive science communication , emphasizing alternative media ecosystems and qualitative methodologies. She has developed Critical Race Media Literacy (CRML) workshops for communities in Brazil and the U.S. Teaching is rooted in Black feminist thought and critical pedagogy , aiming to create collaborative learning spaces for radical social transformation. Her peer-reviewed article in Science Communication (2023) addresses identity perspectives in science communication, while a forthcoming book chapter advocates for intersectionality in journalism education. She has received 13 journalistic awards for her solutions-oriented journalism on human rights violations. Contact: leilane.menezesrodrigues@suffolk.edu .

• Media and Social Justice
• Digital Journalism
• Alternative & Diasporic Media Ecosystems
• +3 more

Yogita Goyal is a Professor of English and African American Studies at UCLA, specializing in race, postcolonialism, and Black diaspora studies. Her work bridges African American and African literature, emphasizing transnational frameworks. She holds a Ph.D. from Brown University (2003) and degrees from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. Goyal’s research includes seminal books like *Romance, Diaspora, and Black Atlantic Literature* (2010) and *Runaway Genres: Global Afterlives of Slavery* (2019), recognized with awards such as the René Wellek Prize. She has edited influential volumes and served as editor of *Contemporary Literature* and President of A.S.A.P. Her current projects explore refugee aesthetics and anticolonial theory. Goyal has held fellowships from ACLS and NEH, and teaches courses on migration, postcolonial theory, and global literature. Education: Ph.D. Brown University; M.A. & B.A. St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University Editorial Roles: Journal editorships, special issue curation in *American Literary History* and *Representations* Awards: Distinguished Teaching Award (UCLA, 2022), Perkins Prize (2021), Wellek Prize (ACLA) Her scholarship interrogates slavery’s legacy, refugee narratives, and anticolonial thought, offering critical frameworks for understanding contemporary global issues through literature. Ongoing work includes *Aesthetics of Refuge* and *Genres of Anticolonialism*.

• African American Literature
• Anglophone African Literature
• Black Atlantic/Black Diaspora Studies
• +4 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