⎯⎯Public Writing⎯⎯
Public scholarship and academic essays written for a general audience
“Untimely Futures”
Places Journal (November 9, 2021)
This essay explores the history of unhoused populations in Oakland, the cyclical displacements of Black locals, and the appearance and reappearance of parking lots in these stories of disruption. She draws on the speculative to highlight a long history of restrictive and devastating policy passed and promoted by local governments and developers.
Places Journal (November 9, 2021)
This essay explores the history of unhoused populations in Oakland, the cyclical displacements of Black locals, and the appearance and reappearance of parking lots in these stories of disruption. She draws on the speculative to highlight a long history of restrictive and devastating policy passed and promoted by local governments and developers.
“Aesthetic Activism and the Quest for Authenticity in a Time of Crisis”
Mediapolis (June 12, 2021)
This solicited essay contributes to a roundtable on the topic of “lockdown aesthetics and gentrification.” My essay focuses on how the aesthetics of blackness have been co-opted in the gentrifying city during a period of crisis.
Mediapolis (June 12, 2021)
This solicited essay contributes to a roundtable on the topic of “lockdown aesthetics and gentrification.” My essay focuses on how the aesthetics of blackness have been co-opted in the gentrifying city during a period of crisis.
“We Need Action to Accompany Art”
The Boston Globe (June 11, 2020)
This solicited op-ed offers a critical lens to view state-sanctioned public art as “black aesthetic emplacement.”
This solicited op-ed offers a critical lens to view state-sanctioned public art as “black aesthetic emplacement.”
“Race and the Quarantined City/What Black America Knows About Quarantine”
The New York Times (May 15, 2020)
This solicited op-ed discusses the long history of Black spatial containment and marginalization in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This solicited op-ed discusses the long history of Black spatial containment and marginalization in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Crafting Selves: Elia Alba’s Supper Club and the Politics of Home(place)” In The Supper Club: by Elia Alba, edited by Sara Reisman, George Bolster, and Anjuli Nanda (Hirmer Publishers, 2019)
This chapter explore the role of blackness, aesthetics, and black representation in Elia Alba’s art practice. The essay draws on bell hooks’ essay “Homeplace: A Site of Resistance,” to imagine Alba’s Supper Club as a radically subversive environment.
This chapter explore the role of blackness, aesthetics, and black representation in Elia Alba’s art practice. The essay draws on bell hooks’ essay “Homeplace: A Site of Resistance,” to imagine Alba’s Supper Club as a radically subversive environment.
“‘Housing is a Natural Right, Not a Privilege’:
Anti-Gentrification Activism in a Chocolate City”
The Funambulist, Issue 22 (March 2019)
This solicited essay discusses the Black struggle against gentrification in Washington, D.C., and various organizations, initiatives, policy, and ongoing cultural activities that address the socio-spatial shift in D.C.’s landscape, primarily due to gentrification-induced displacement and dispossession.
The Funambulist, Issue 22 (March 2019)
This solicited essay discusses the Black struggle against gentrification in Washington, D.C., and various organizations, initiatives, policy, and ongoing cultural activities that address the socio-spatial shift in D.C.’s landscape, primarily due to gentrification-induced displacement and dispossession.
Black Aesthetic/Aesthetic Black: Race, Space, and the
Possibilities of Becoming
Public Seminar (May 2018)
This solicited piece discusses the productivity of blackness, and the mutual constitution of “black aesthetics” and “blackness as an aesthetic.”
Public Seminar (May 2018)
This solicited piece discusses the productivity of blackness, and the mutual constitution of “black aesthetics” and “blackness as an aesthetic.”
“Black Lives Under Surveillance”
Public Books (December 2016)
A review essay on Simone Browne’s Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness and Keeanga-Yamhatta Taylor’s From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation that draws connections between race, surveillance, and capitalism.
Public Books (December 2016)
A review essay on Simone Browne’s Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness and Keeanga-Yamhatta Taylor’s From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation that draws connections between race, surveillance, and capitalism.