PhD Candidate in Departments of History and African American & Diaspora Studies

(Graduate Resident Spring 2025)

My dissertation is an interdisciplinary work that traces AfroBrazilian women’s intellectual thought and contributions to Pan-African ideology. Using newspapers, photos, letters, and oral history projects, I examine AfroBrazilian political and cultural spaces in São Paulo, and uplift Black women’s voices and resistance strategies. I employ a Black Feminist lens rooted in lived experience to highlight AfroBrazilian women’s use of intimacy as a political tool for Black consciousness raising. “Culture, Love, & Politics” is theoretical analysis on how AfroBrazilian women cultivated their classrooms, samba schools, and homes into spaces where communal

reflection and social critique occurred. My objective is to encourage more conversations about intimacy and love in the field of history.