Alexis Ligon Holloway is a Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD) Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at Mount Holyoke College. Simultaneously, she is finishing her PhD in Cultural Anthropology PhD at Duke University, where she is a Dean’s Graduate Fellow. Stemming from personal experience, Lexi’s research explores how the mechanisms of white supremacy operate in classical music performance, examining how racial and aesthetic hierarchies position Black bodies as aberrant in these spaces. Specifically, her research centers on the resilience and resistance that Black musicians display in the face of racism in classical music pedagogy and performance. As a filmmaker, she aims to produce a series of documentary shorts that depict the fabrics of everyday Black talent in classical music spaces, performing the visual political work of positioning Black musicians center-stage. She has worked on the Decolonial Pedagogy Committee at Duke, collaborating with professors to create a Black feminist theories syllabus for incoming Cultural Anthropology graduate students. As a member of the Association of Black Anthropologist’s executive board, Lexi is passionate about working against gate keeping practices that discourage Black and other minoritized students from feeling welcomed and valued.
The Black Orchestral Network (BON) is a grassroots organization that aims to support Black classically trained musicians. I have been working with BON as a steering committee member since late 2022. As professional service and altruism are important to me, I cherish the time I have spent getting to know these fabulous Black creatives and supporting the work that they do within the musical community and beyond. For more information about BON, check out their website here.