Anita Gonzalez

Anita Gonzalez is a Professor in the Department of Black Studies at Georgetown University and co-founder of the university's Racial Justice Institute. She holds a Ph.D. and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2023. Her interdisciplinary work bridges academia, public engagement, and creative performance.

Her research explores theatre, dance, African American studies, performing arts, Latin American festival traditions, Black dance aesthetics, directing, choreography, and playwriting. She investigates how performance intersects with social justice, labor, race, and cultural identity.

Gonzalez has authored/edited books including Shipping Out: Race, Performance and Labor at Sea, Black Performance Theory, and Afro-Mexico: Dancing Between Myth and Reality, alongside peer-reviewed articles in journals like Radical History Review and Dance Research Journal.

Awards and fellowships:

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023)
• Three Senior Scholar Fulbright grants
• Residencies: Rockefeller’s Bellagio Center & Warfield Center (UT Austin)
• University of Michigan Humanities Center Fellow (2017-2018)
• Shirley Verrett Award for teaching excellence

She leads public scholarship initiatives like the MOOC Storytelling for Social Change (50,000+ learners) and the 19thCenturyActs digital archive. As a director/librettist, her works include operas Faces in the Flames (Atlanta Opera) and Mikey Dee and the Eclipse (Washington National Opera, 2026).