Department of ENGLISH AND COMPARATIVE literature
DOCTORAL RESEARCH INTERESTS [2022 - 2028]:
I am a rising fourth-year PhD Candidate and an interdisciplinary scholar passionate about international human rights discourse and its relationship to artistic resistance practices. In my research, I employ theoretical methods rooted in political theory and spatial discourse. As a performance scholar, I examine how space shapes meaning, power dynamics, and audience perception. These theoretical apparatuses allow me to consider how spatial elements reflect cultural, social, or political ideologies.
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, THEATRE & PERFORMANCE STUDIES
From Spectacle to Politics...
"From Spectacle to Politics:
Artistic Rhetoric in the Work of
Josephine Baker, Victoria Santa Cruz, and Miriam Makeba"
- My Dissertation Project seeks to elucidate some dynamics and responses to a transnational racial project that sought to dominate three continents; South America (Peru), Africa (South Africa), and North America (the United States). Throughout the next three years (2025-2028), I will be focusing on the question of a transnational racial project by attending to the works of three artists/activists separated by location and medium. Each visual material illustrates the rhetorical significance of dance, spoken-word as a form of performance, and singing. The specific works I will explore, produced by these artists/activists, are original compilations.
- The works of Josephine Baker (1906-1975) will provide further context to the domination efforts over the Black population in the United States. Productions led by Victoria Santa Cruz (1922-2014) emerged in a radical challenge posed by European colonizers in Peru. Miriam Makeba’s (1932-2008) international recognition as an anti-apartheid advocate offers key insights necessary to explore alternative paths used to critique racial discrimination in South Africa.
1) JOSEPHINE BAKER (1906-1975)
CHAPTER 1:
Location: United States & France
- In chapter two, I will explore how Josephine Baker’s embodied practices allows an exploration of the development of African American culture before and after enslavement. Baker’s influence as an artist and activist act as an effective entrance into scholarly conversations revolving around performance, political theory, and Black feminist embodiment. As a dual French/American citizen since 1937, Baker (1906-1975) spoke at the March on Washington (1963) wearing her French military uniform.
2) VICTORIA SANTA CRUZ (1922-2014)
CHAPTER 3:
Location: Peru & Spain
- In chapter three, I will complete a close-analysis of Victoria Eugenia Santa Cruz’s (1922-2014) spoken-word poem produced in 1978: “They Yelled At Me: ‘Black’” (English title translation) and “Me Gritaron Negra” (original title). It will be presented as a short scholarly exploration that shows–– 1) a linguistic analysis of Santa Cruz’s poem and 2) a contextualization of Santa Cruz’s performance practices (coupled with research on postcolonial theory and visual methods used in the field of Black performance studies).
3)MIRIAM MAKEBA (1932-2008)
CHAPTER 4:
Location: South Africa & United States
- In chapter four, I will illustrate how Miriam Makeba’s linguistic performance challenges the epistemological erasure of the Black feminist presence in South Africa. As an affirmation of Blackness, the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) began as an ideological symbol of beauty, creativity, competence and diversification. I will argue that one of Makeba’s most well-known musical performances released in the 50s and 60s created space for the Black feminist perspective prior to the public rise of the BCM in the 70s.