Suzie Telep

Suzie Telep is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and European Union Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A linguistic and cultural anthropologist, she examines intersections of language, race, and artistic production within the African diaspora in postcolonial France.

• Educational background includes a PhD in Linguistics from Paris Cité University, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, and affiliations with institutions like Stanford University and University of Angers.
• Her research focuses on race, gender, and language ideologies in Black diasporic communities, particularly Cameroonian immigrants in Paris, analyzing practices like 'whitisation' (accent mimicry) and Afro-feminist aesthetics in digital media and fashion.
• Key methodologies blend ethnographic fieldwork with arts-based research, exploring how language and performance negotiate identity in contexts shaped by anti-Black racism and colonial legacies.
• Scientific awards include the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship (2021) and the Richard Mille - La Francophonie en Débat prize (2021).
• Her creative work includes a multimedia performance-lecture, My Afropean Musical Journey, presented at conferences like the African Studies Association and Unsettling Images, Engaging Fictions.