My research interests are…

Women’s Studies and the African Diaspora

Focusing on the intersectionality of race and gender and how knowledge and theories are generated based on lived experiences across the African Diaspora.

Women Authors from the French-Speaking World

Maryse Condé, Assia Djebar, Léonora Miano and Marie NDiaye, among many others.

Visual Representations of Women of Color in France

How Black bodies are represented in theater and plays, films and documentaries as well as print and digital media.

Francophone Graphic Novels

Ways in which Black womanhood is portrayed in comics across the French-speaking African diaspora, from the continent to the Caribbean to France. 

Afrofeminism & Social Justice in France

Ways in which afrofeminism and social justice have emerged in the French public space through social media interfaces such as Twitter.

Afro-Blogging

Ways in which Black French women take on blog spaces to tell stories, document their lived experiences and teach to a large audience.

About my research….

My current book project is provisionally titled The Afro-Feminist Creative Praxis of Black French Women. Responding to the demands of the current moment, in which focusing on Black histories, experiences and contributions is of critical importance, Afro-Feminist Creative Praxis explores and theorizes how Afro-feminism operates in contemporary French cultural production.

Funded by the University of Georgia and North Carolina State University, this project offers an innovative mixed methodology for studying women of color in France. Through analysis of historical archival documents, interviews of authors, actors and activists to complement my literary sources, my research investigates the conceptual evolution of identity and belonging to a national identity since the colonial period. It also engages with popular representations of women of color and their bodies in the media, and explores the relationship between race, gender and identity in modern day France.

Furthermore…

My second project looks at female sexuality by Black French women authors in narrative literature, drama and social media, showing how these depictions reclaim Black female agency and body positive advocacy while also navigating the dangers of claiming sexual agency in public and digital spheres.

Recent Research Trips

In the Spring of 2022, I will be a Camargo Foundation Fellow in Cassis, France. I will be working on finishing my first book.

The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia, The Graduate School and The Dean’s Office through the Graduate School Dean’s Award for Arts and Humanities at The University of Georgia have all supported my dissertation research. To learn more about those research trips, please take a look at the blog!