Sasha Sanders

Dr. Sasha Sanders is an Assistant Professor of Multi/Cultural Performance Studies in the Communication Studies Department at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), part of the College of Liberal Arts. She joined Cal Poly in 2024 as a first-generation college graduate and CSU alumna. Her research integrates Black feminist aesthetics, autoethnography, and DIY art forms like stop-motion animation and comics to explore identity, power, and belonging. She focuses on 'arresting moments' of racialized gender that disrupt self-perception and spatial belonging.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Communication, University of South Florida (2021)
• M.A. in Communication Studies, California State University Long Beach (2017)
• B.A. in Communication Studies and Minor in Marketing, California State University Long Beach (2015)

Research emphasizes Black feminist worldmaking through interdisciplinary methods, including comic workshops that inspire 'Gutter Futures'—liberated imaginaries. Her scholarship appears in Text and Performance Quarterly, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, and Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, with forthcoming work in Women’s Studies in Communication and Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society.

Teaching: Awarded the 2024 Dwight L. Freshley Outstanding New Teacher Award, she prioritizes experiential learning and student collaboration in courses like Performance, Literature, & Culture and Critical Cultural Studies. Her pedagogy challenges traditional classroom dynamics through embodied, reflexive practices.

Awards:

• Dwight L. Freshley Outstanding New Teacher Award (SSCA, 2024)

Community engagement includes national comic workshops and virtual symposia facilitation, such as the 2024 SSCA Performance Studies Division event.