I believe…
Justice-oriented and community-centered research is not only valid; it’s necessary.
I know…
As a K-12 and university-level educator, I have witnessed, first-hand, the devastating effects of colonialism on educational and life outcomes. Therefore, I operate through a decolonial praxis that recognizes and remediates the way colonial (domineering, destructive, and racist) attitudes, policies, and practices continue to negatively shape educational, environmental, political and cultural institutions in the United States and elsewhere. As a Black Caribbean American woman born and raised in a U.S. colony (the U.S. Virgin Islands), studying race, education, and the environment for several years has awakened me to the reality that structural changes are most effective when the lived experiences of those most negatively impacted by systemic harm frame the work. In other words, I believe that wherever indigenous, Black, colonized, disabled, queer, and immigrant people are presented with the opportunity to develop clarity around who they are and what they have experienced, the possibility of radical transformation is imminent.
Through activism and collaborative partnerships, I can transform my research and consulting into social impact. Taking the information I continue to learn about the liberation struggles of marginalized groups, I labor to facilitate the larger freedom efforts of minoritized communities across the U.S., its territories, and other places in the region.
I hope…
Academic & Professional Background
From 2018 to 2024, I served as board member of the Racial Imbalance Advisory Council for the Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education (DESE) where I advise the Commissioner of Education and other DESE stakeholders on matters of racial equity in public education. I am also a member of Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC), an organization that catalyzes the academic and economic advancement of young people of color by harnessing the power of its multi-racial, multi-sector, and values-aligned membership network. Through my educational consultancy, Radical Education & Advocacy League LLC, I work with education organizations, universities and K-12 school districts on culturally responsive pedagogy, educator training, student programming and organizational strategy, policy and research.
My dissertation, “Consuming the U.S. Virgin Islands: Conservation and Education in America’s Paradise,” interrogates conservation colonialism’s impact on education aims on the island of St. John. My research has been supported by the Social Welfare History Project at Virginia Commonwealth University, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Boston University’s Graduate Student Organization, and Mellon Foundation.
I hold a B.A. in Anthropology and African American Studies from Wesleyan University, an M.Ed. in Secondary English from University of Missouri-St. Louis, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University. Currently, I hold an appointment as a 2024-2025 AFAS Postdoctoral Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis.
Awards & Prizes
Outstanding Teaching Fellow, American & New England Studies, Boston University, 2019
Erness Brody Prize for Excellence in Written Expression, African American Studies, Wesleyan University, 2013