Joshua K. Reason

Joshua K. Reason (they/them) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University. A transdisciplinary scholar-artist from the Bay Area, their work bridges performance ethnography, geography, and oral history to explore the aesthetics, politics, and lived experiences of queer and trans communities within Black and Indigenous contexts across the Americas.

• PhD in Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania
• MA in Latin American Studies with LGBTQ Studies portfolio, University of Texas at Austin
• BA in Latin American Studies with Spanish certificate, Carleton College

Dr. Reason’s research centers on Black and Indigenous LGBTQIA+ artists in Northern-Northeastern Brazil, interrogating how their creative practices resist (neo)colonialism, sexual conservatism, and environmental degradation. Their documentary project Brazil After Dark and multimodal ethnography exemplify this commitment.

• Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship
• Fulbright U.S. Student Program
• Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship

Dr. Reason’s collaborations include Coletivo das Liliths, an LGBTQIAPN+ theater collective in Brazil, and their work has appeared in The Black Scholar, The Journal of American Culture, and other venues. They hold no listed advisees and are actively engaged in ongoing creative and scholarly projects.