Cynthia Tobar

Work Title and Work Place

• Adjunct Associate Professor, Queens College GSLIS

Courses Being Taught Presently and/or in the Past

• LBSCI 790.3: Introduction to Oral History Methods and Practice

Academic Statement & Professional Interests

Cynthia Tobar (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist-scholar, oral historian, and educator working at the intersection of cultural memory, storytelling, and social change. With over two decades of experience across academic, cultural, and grassroots spaces, her work centers Latine, Afro-Caribbean and migrant histories through community-engaged research and creative pedagogy.

An NYC-born, first-generation Ecuadorian American, Cynthia’s practice spans film, oral history, and archival interventions. She is passionate about creating interactive, participatory storytelling projects that document resistance, reimagine memory, and advance social justice. Her work builds transformative spaces for collective remembering and community-led dialogue around issues such as displacement, gentrification, and activism.

She is the founder of Cities for People, Not for Profit, a storytelling project chronicling gentrification and displacement in Bushwick. Her collaborative oral history-based musical projects ¿Dónde puedo ir? Searching for Home and American Icons were both awarded Brooklyn Arts Council grants for their exploration of local memory and resilience through music.

Proud to have begun her higher education journey at CUNY, Cynthia is a Hunter College alum and holds an MA in Politics from the New School, an MLS from Pratt Institute, and an Ed.D. in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her doctoral research examined the formation and impact of the student-led group Black Lives Matter in Higher Education.