My experiences as a Black classical musician, researcher, and mentor who has regularly grappled with color-blind racism, not only ground my ethnographic research but also my service to underrepresented students in academia. In the spring of 2020, I was invited to serve on the Association of Black Anthropologist’s (ABA) executive board as the co-chair of the Student Interest Group. Working with ABA has given me insight into how Black scholars can find creative and essential ways to support underserved communities. I have planned multiple events for Black and other minoritized students, including the “Demystifying the Post-Doctoral Experience” event, where ABA students engaged with rising scholars in anthropology. I also helped to initiate the Pathways Book Club, a group for underrepresented students who are interested in anthropological works produced by Black scholars. Both initiatives were developed to forge solidarity among Black anthropology students scattered across the country. I further honed my mentoring skillset at Duke and became a Peer Mentoring Fellow in 2021. In this space, I helped an interdisciplinary and diverse set of graduate students navigate their respective programs and develop strategies to define their own ideas of success.
In the fall of 2020, I partnered with Dr. Anne-Maria Makhulu at Duke to earn an anti-racism seed grant for the department, which was used to develop a decolonial theories syllabus for all incoming anthropology graduate students, as well as kickstart a decolonial praxis speaker series. The funds were also used for a diversity training retreat for faculty members. Through this experience, I realized that it is fundamental for faculty to have anti-racist training, as they have longstanding relationships with the university, unlike students who filter in and out.
My citational practices also reflect my Black feminist politics. I do my best to avoid citing writers and scholars who have done great harm to the communities with which they have worked. Instead, I support the work of Christen Smith and others involved with the #CiteBlackWomen movement, and center my work around Black feminist thinkers and writers. As a political commitment, Black feminism benefits people of all racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and I am committed to celebrating this work through my research.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are also core values in my classroom. In every course I have planned, guest lecture I have prepared, and Pre College class that I led, I have done my best to include texts, voices, and perspectives from multiple cultures and political contexts. For example, in my “Media Literacy and Identity” class, the media that we analyzed included creators from Inuit, Black American, Latinx, Eastern European, East Asian, and South Asian backgrounds. I am also attuned to valuing authors who identify as queer, disabled, and politically dispossessed. I think that it is paramount that students are exposed to different cultures, societies, and politics. It equips students with the tools to critically analyze things they encounter with a greater understanding of the rich cultural landscapes in the world.
Cultivating cultural awareness and valuing diversity is an ongoing process, rather than an endpoint. It positions the university as a space for both personal and intellectual development. I firmly believe that my pedagogical approaches, life experiences, and excitement to be challenged and to learn would greatly benefit the academic community.