Rachel Afi Quinn

Rachel Afi Quinn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies and the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program at the University of Houston, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Her transnational feminist cultural studies scholarship centers on mixed race, gender and sexuality, social media, and visual culture in the African Diaspora, with critical focus on Dominican identity and Caribbean queer activism.

Education

• Ph.D. and M.A. in American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• B.A. in African American Studies (concentration in Cultural Anthropology), Wesleyan University

Dr. Quinn's research traverses Transnational Feminist Cultural Studies, African Diaspora Studies, Critical Mixed Race Studies, and Race & Visual Culture, examining how identity is constructed through digital media, film, and artistic expression. Her work interrogates Black female masculinities, LGBT activism in Latin America/Caribbean, and community-engaged scholarship, consistently highlighting Dominican cultural production and resistance.

Her publication trajectory (2012-2024) reveals deepening engagement with Black feminist digital praxis, visual sovereignty, and transnational solidarity. Recent works analyze Afro-Dominican feminist movements, mixed-race representation in Hollywood, and public scholarship as political action, demonstrating methodological innovation through documentary filmmaking and digital humanities.

Scientific Awards

• 2018 Ross M. Lence Award for Teaching Excellence
• 2018-19 Career Enhancement Fellowship (Woodrow Wilson Foundation)
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Fellowship (2022-23)
• NEH Faculty Award (2023-2024) for Philippa Duke Schuyler biography

Dr. Quinn mentors students in cultural studies and gender/sexuality research through community-engaged pedagogy. Her grant portfolio includes NEH and Schomburg funding supporting ethnographic research on Dominican visual culture and Black feminist biography. She co-founded South Asian Youth in Houston Unite (SAYHU) and the UH Critical Disability Studies Initiative, demonstrating commitment to intersectional justice.

She actively participates in Imagining America @ UH (fostering public scholarship), Black. Migration. Houston. (digital humanities project centering Blackness in migration studies), and #Ferguson resource curation. Her collaborative initiatives bridge academic research with grassroots activism, particularly through the UH Critical Disability Studies speaker series and SAYHU's social justice programming.