My academic background includes extensive undergraduate and graduate work in the humanities and social sciences. The result of this broadranging study is a passion and talent for interdisciplinary study.   My college education began with undergraduate work in literature and languages (German & Russian) and I graduated in 1995 with a B.A. degree in English Language and Linguistics from the University of Missouri.  In 1996, I entered a graduate program in Women’s History at Sarah Lawrence College.  At SLC, my focus shifted away from literature and languages to the social sciences.  There, I took courses in history and anthropology and wrote a Master’s thesis entitled “A Journey Home: African American Lesbians & Religious Autonomy.” My thesis argues that, in spite of black androcentric theology, many African American lesbians cultivate a lesbian subculture at church.  Upon receipt of the M.A. degree in Women’s History, I matriculated in the Ph.D. program in American Studies at the College of William & Mary. While in residence at William & Mary from 1998 to 2001, where I specialized in African American studies, specifically history and literature, I also took courses in museum studies and material culture.  I was an adjunct instructor in the English departments at the University of Richmond (Fall 1999) and Hampton University (Summer 2000), where I taught women’s literature and early African American literature.  During this period, another significant professional experience came in the form of an internship at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History.  At the NMAH I served as a curatorial research assistant for the Program in African American Culture.  In 2001, after passing my phd qualifying exams in the four areas of African American performance studies, African American literature (slavery-present), African American history (slavery-present) and Women’s history (early American-present), I moved to New York City to begin research for my dissertation, “‘I Got Thunder (And It Rings!)’: Afrodiasporic ‘Voicing’ in the Music of Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone and Cassandra Wilson.”  My dissertation introduces a theoretical framework which specifies the sonic, narrative and corporeal aesthetic interrelationships of music informed by an Afrodiasporic consciousness.  My term Afrodiasporic ‘Voice’ then is shorthand for the cultural elements that uniquely characterize black music across genres and nations; it implies that dispersed Africans share conceptual approaches to the music-making process.  After transitioning to New York, I was employed by Ventures Education Systems Corporation as an educational consultant for New York City public schools and trained teachers in student-centered practices.  In 2002, I was invited as a Visiting Scholar to Columbia University’s Institute for Research in African American Studies where I created and taught two seminars, “Mapping Jazz: The Ethnography & Geography of African American Music” and “The ‘City’ in Afrodiasporic Literature.”     In addition to scholastic endeavors, I am a creative writer. While studying at William & Mary, I published my first book, a collection of short stories entitled Callaloo (New Victoria Publishers, 1999). That same year, I was awarded the College Language Association’s Margaret Walker prize for Short Fiction.  In May of 2004, I was awarded the Money for Women/Barbara Demming Memorial Grant for Individual Artists in the Short Fiction category for my novella, “The Sin Will Find You Out.”   Currently, in my third year as history faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, I am teaching a yearlong seminar entitled “African Diasporas: Negotiating Disper- sion in the Americas and Europe” and facilitating SLC’s Senior Thesis  work- shop which meets biweekly for students working on a range of topics including: art history; philosophy; psychology; literature and creative writing. HOME                                                              C.V. Selected Papers, Panels and Guest Lectures “‘On Teaching African Diasporas: Negotiating Dispersion in Europe.”  Black European Studies Conference.  Johannes-Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, Germany, November 10-13, 2005.  Conference Web Site: http://www.smaxnet.de/best/bestnu/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=25 “‘I Got Thunder (And It Rings!)’: The Afrodiasporic ‘Voice’ in Music.” Diasporic Encounters and Collaborations Third Biennial Conference.  The Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora, Sofitel-Copacabana Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 5-7, 2005.  Conference Web Site: http://www.aswadiaspora.org/conference05Program.html#fri13 “Black Like Me?: Notes on African Diaspora Studies.”  Faculty Talk.  Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, August 31, 2005.  “Siren Songs: Jazzwomen & the Audience.”  Guest Lecture Series, John F. Kennedy Institute für Nordamerikastudien, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany, July 13, 2005.  “‘My Name Is Peaches!’: Womanist Autoethnography: Speech, Voice and Community in Black Women’s Music.”  Black History Month Keynote Lecture.  Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, February 22, 2005. “‘Negotiating Dispersion: Meanings of Diaspora.”  Africana Studies Table Talk.  Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, November 18, 2004.  Panel: Musicians and the Music.  “Amiri Baraka’s Blues People: 40 Years Later: A Symposium on Jazz Criticism & The Music.”  Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, February 6-8, 2004.  “‘The Circle Is Never Broken’:  The Afrodiasporic ‘Voice’ in Expressive Black Culture.  International African American Nationalism(s) Conference. Université François-Rabelais, Tours, France, November 28-30, 2003.    “‘All That Jazz: Improvisation and Black Girls’ Games.”  Part 2 of Guest Lecturer Series for seminar instructed by Dr. Kyra Gaunt.  Department of Music, Waverly Hall, New York University, New York City, April 15, 2003. “‘Rock, Rock to the Planet Rock, Bam! Don’t Stop!’: African Bambatataa & African American Girls’ Games.”  Part 1 of Guest Lecturer Series for seminar instructed by Dr. Kyra Gaunt.  Department of Music, Waverly Hall, New York University, New York City, March 25, 2003. “‘The Circle Is Never Broken’: Afrodiasporic ‘Voicing’,  The Discursive Tradition from Spirituals to Neo-Soul.”  Conversation Series.  Institute for Research in African American Studies.  Columbia University, New York City, November 22, 2002.  “‘I Got Thunder (And It Rings!)’: The Afrodiasporic ‘Voice’ of Abbey Lincoln.”  Institüt für Jazzforschung.  Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst,  Graz, Austria, October 3, 2002.  “‘Hey Lordy, Mama’: Dialogics and the Ritual Performance of Abbey Lincoln.”  Panel: Lyrics & Composition.  For the Love of Abbey: Abbey Lincoln Symposium.  Institute for Research in African American Studies & Center for Jazz Studies.  Columbia University, New York, December 7, 2001.  “‘Learning How To Listen’: Analyzing Performance & Meaning in the Music of Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, & Cassandra Wilson.”  Sarah Lawrence College,  Bronxville, New York, February 1, 2001. 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