BLACK STUDIES MATTER
We cannot understand where humanity has been and where we are going without Black Studies.
This work has never been more important. Our research is illuminating the impact of Black lives on the past, present and future of humanity—a thread that ties together every industry and culture on the planet.
With five innovative research themes and dozens of areas of sub-speciality research, the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies is the epicenter of this vital scholarship, building a legacy for future generations and leading the field of Black Studies forward, locally and globally.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We believe Black Studies is for everybody. The Institute supports the entire University community and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and our reach is international, for the experiences of people of African descent inform the experiences of all of humanity.
We believe in community, including “glocal” communities. We use our research to develop antiracist solutions to the most urgent issues of our moment. Our scholars work with the surrounding community, addressing matters relevant to local people.
We believe knowledge production and information are powerful change agents. The research scholars hosted long- and short-term by the Institute are nationally and internationally recognized for their intellectual and creative excellence.
We believe that knowledge should be interdisciplinary. Neither the STEM fields, nor Humanities, nor Social Sciences, nor the Arts, exist alone or are sufficient alone.
We believe in the power of democracy. To study global Blackness is to study democratic institutions and the means by which full democracy has been imagined and enacted.
OUR LEADERSHIP
Anastasia C. Curwood
Dr. Curwood, Professor of History and Director of the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies, joined the UK Department of History and African American & Africana Studies in 2014. Her work has been recognized with fellowships from the Ford Foundation, The Institute for Citizens & Scholars, and the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference at Emory University. She is the author of Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages between the Two World Wars (2010). Her most recent book is Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics (2023).
Brenna E. Pye
Assistant Director for Programs and Engagement for the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies. Brenna is a Public Historian and project developer whose research interests include 20th century African American women’s history and the history of Black Lexington. As an independent scholar, Brenna has produced work for the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation and the Lexington Public Library.
CIBS AFFILIATES
Joseph Benitez
Assistant Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy, College of Public Health and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies
Research Interests: Health Economics; Applied Econometrics; Access to Care; Medically Underserved Areas/Populations; Medicaid Program Design
Devyn Spence Benson
Associate Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Latin American and Caribbean History, esp. Cuba (19th/20th century); Africana Studies; Afro-Latinx Studies; Transnational Black Feminisms; Afro-Latin America
Nikki Brown
Associate Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: African American History; African American women; Film and Visual Studies; Photography
Kayla Bush
MA student, History and Student Affiliate, Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies
Joseph Clark
Assistant Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Early Modern Atlantic World; Slavery and African Diaspora; Latin America and the Caribbean; Environmental History
Lisa Cliggett
Professor, Anthropology and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Political Ecology; Sustainability and Environmental Change; Household Political Economy; Kinship-Family and Social Organization; Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia, Gwembe Tonga Research Project; Qualitative Methods; Digital Data Management; Gender, Aging, and Life Course; Livelihoods; Migration and New Land Settlement; Political Economy
Thais Council
Assistant Professor, Literacy, College of Education and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Black Education; Black Reparatory Literacies; Community-Engaged/Participatory Action Research; Black Intellectual Tradition
Steve Davis
Associate Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: South African History; Microhistory; Public History; African History; Digital Humanities; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Human Rights; Data Visualization; Virtual and Augmented Reality; New Military History
Brandon M. Erby
Assistant Professor, Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies and Faculty Affiliate, African American & African Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: African American Rhetoric; Literacy Studies; Rhetorical Education; Civil Rights and Black Power Movements; Prison Writing
Kamahra Ewing
Assistant Professor, English and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: African Diaspora; Film and Media Studies; Contemporary Africa and Post-colonial and Decolonial Theories; Global South Studies; Brazil and Latin America; Gender and Ethnic Identity; Ethnography; African, African American, and Caribbean Literature and Culture; Film; Multicultural American Literature
Crystal Felima
Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Disasters and Crises; Black Ecologies; Emergency Management and Response; Mapping and GIS; International Development; Anthropology of the State; Black Feminist Theory; Narrative Research; Embodiment and Exposure
Kishonna Gray
Associate Professor, Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies, and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Digital Feminism; Video Games; Intersectionality; Black Cyber Feminism; Ethnography; Critical Discourse Analysis; Digital Media
Gregory Hall
Associate Professor, Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, and Faulty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: International Relations; International Security; Foreign Policy; Global South Affairs; International Political Economy; Eurasian Affairs; Research Methodology
Aria Halliday
Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Black Feminist Theory; Black Girlhood Studies; Black Visual Culture; 20th and 21st Century Cultural Studies
Regina Hamilton
Assistant Professor, English, and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: African American Literature; African, African American, and Caribbean Literature and Culture; 20th Century Women’s Narrative; Gender and Race; Queer Black Studies
Candice Hargons
Associate Professor, Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology, College of Education, and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Sexual Wellness; Healing Racial Trauma
Kayla Heard
PhD program, History and Student Affiliate, Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies
Frances Henderson
Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Black Feminism; Women and Social Movements; Comparative Politics; Women and Feminisms in Southern Africa
DaMaris B. Hill
Professor, Creative Writing and English, and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Environmental Studies; Gender and Women’s Studies; Digital Studies; Technology; 20th and 21st Century American Literature and Culture; African, African American, and Caribbean Literature and Culture; Creative Writing; Women’s Literature and Gender Studies; Literary Theory; Race Theory
Vanessa M. Holden
Associate Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Gender; Slavery; Race; Resistance; Black Women; Sexuality
Hilary Jones
Associate Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: African History; African Diaspora; Atlantic History; French Empire; Women; Gender and Sexuality
Reinette Jones
Special Collections Librarian, M.I. King Library and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: African American History; Book and Library History; Gender and Women’s Studies; History of African American Librarians and Librarianship in Kentucky; African American women musicians; Lesbian Studies
Peter Kalliney
Professor, English and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences
Research Interests: 20th and 21st Century British Literature and Culture; African American and Caribbean Literature and Culture; Postcolonial and Global Literature
Bertin M. Louis Jr.
Associate Professor, Anthropology and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: African Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Race and Racism; African Diaspora; Religion; Human Rights; Statelessness; Migration; Haiti; Haitian Studies; Haitian Protestantism; Antiracist Movements; The Bahamas; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Anti-Haitianism
Priscilla McCutcheon
Associate Professor, Geography and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Alternative Food Movements; Sustainable Agriculture; Black Geographies; Race and Racism; Spirituality and Religion
Shauna M. Morgan
Associate Professor, English and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Creative Writing; African American Literature and Culture; Postcolonial and Global Anglophone Literature; Women’s Literature and Gender Studies; Literary Theory; African Literature and Film
Francis Musoni
Associate Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences
Research Interests: Modern African History; Migration; Refugees; Border Studies; Internal Economies
Lydia Pelot-Hobbs
Assistant Professor, Geography and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: The Carceral State; Racial Capitalism; Social Movements and Grassroots Organizing; Prison Abolition; Black Geographies; Feminist and Queer Politics; Louisiana; Critical Urban Studies
Veronica Primm
MA program, History and Student Affiliate, Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies
Karen Rignall
Assistant Professor, Community Leadership and Development, Marin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Agri-Food systems in the Middle East and North Africa; Rural Livelihoods and Economic Development; Anthropology of Rural Life; Land Tenure and Land Rights Movements; Labor Migration
Ariane Ribeiro Santana
MA program, History and Student Affiliate, Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies
Elena Sesma
Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Historical Archeology; Cultural Heritage; Collective Memory; Archaeological Ethnography; Public and Community Archaeology; African Diaspora; The Bahamas; Slavery and Emancipation
Gerald L. Smith
Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: African American History; Race and Sports; Black Freedom Struggle; African American Education; Kentucky African American History
Melissa N. Stein
Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Critical Race Studies; Gender Studies; Feminist Science Studies; The Body; Racial Thought; Sexuality and Queer History; U.S. Cultural and Intellectual History; African America History; Women’s and Gender History; History of Science and Medicine
Amy Murrell Taylor
Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts and Sciences
Research Interests: 19th Century U.S. South; Civil War and Reconstruction; Slavery and Emancipation; Race and Gender; Public History
DeBraun Thomas
Music Host, WUKY and Staff Affiliate, Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies
Kenneth M. Tyler
Professor, Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology, College of Education and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Cultural Values of Persons of Color; Home-school Dissonance/Cultural Discontinuity; Academic Motivation; Schooling and Achievement Outcomes; Self-Efficacy; Achievement Goal Orientation; Identity Development; African American Middle Grade and High School Level Students; Identity Development in African American Male Adolescents and Adults; Invisibility Syndrome; Individual, Institutional, Cultural, and Environmental Racism; White Supremacy; White Privilege
MB Visoná
Professor, Art History and Visual Studies, College of Fine Arts and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Art History; Visual Studies; Anthropology of Art; African Art; Cultural Studies; Global Modernism; Transnational Artists; Curatorial Studies
Daniel Vivian
Associate Professor, Department of Historic Preservation, College of Design and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: 19th and 20th Century U.S. History; Public History; Historical Memory; Historic Preservation
Frank X Walker
Professor, English and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Poetry and Poetics; Fiction; African American Cinema; Affrilachia; Diversity in Comics and Graphic Novels; Playwriting and Black Theater; Creative Writing
Patrick Walker (In Memoriam)
Endowed Lecturer, Lewis Honors College and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Entrepreneurship; Free Enterprise; Conscious Capitalism from legal, managerial, and interdisciplinary perspectives
Keith J. Watts
Assistant Professor, College of Social Work and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Black LGBTQ+; Mental Health; Well-being; Community; Belongingness; Identity and Intersectionality
JWells
Assistant Professor, Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies, and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Literacy Studies; Maternal Incarceration; Cultural Rhetorics; Women’s Rhetorics; Feminist Mothering Practices
Brandi White
Assistant Professor, College of Health Sciences and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Health Equity; Community Engagement; Diversity of the Healthcare Workforce
Derrick White
Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Intellectual History; Sports History; Political History
Stephanie White
Associate Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Medical Student Education, College of Medicine, and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Race and Medicine; Health Disparities; Addressing Inequities in Academic Medicine
Lauren Whitehurst
Assistant Professor, Psychology and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Sleep and Circadian Rhythms; Autonomic Nervous System; Memory; Stress/Discrimination; Cognitive Health; Psychopharmacology; Neuroimaging; Non-Invasive Stimulation
Crystal Wilkinson
Professor, English, and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Creative Writing; Nonfiction Writing; Poetry; The Short Story Cycle; Black Culture in Appalachia; Mental Illness in Literature; Women and the Black Rural Landscape
George C. Wright
Professor, History and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Kentucky History; Black History; Global Black Freedom Struggle
Nazera Sadiq Wright
Associate Professor, English and Faculty Affiliate, African American & Africana Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
Research Interests: Colonial through 19th Century American Literature and Culture; Women’s Literature and Gender Studies; Black Girlhood Studies; African, African American, and Caribbean Literature and Culture; Black Print Culture Studies
Austin C. Zinkle
Kentucky Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Postdoctoral Scholar, J. David Rosenberg College of Law and Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies
Research Interests: 20th Century United States History; Youth Activism; Black Freedom Struggle; United States Social Movements; United States Conservatism
