I moved to St. Louis in 2018 to join the faculty at WashU, where I am Professor of African and African-American Studies, a faculty affiliate in the Department of Sociology and the American Culture Studies Program, and the director of the WashU & Slavery Project.

My research, teaching, and creative work examines the politics of race and the pursuit of racial justice, historically and today. I am particularly interested in understanding histories and legacies of racist violence, and implications for redress. This has led me to focus on the reparative potential of anti-racist commemorative interventions, through public history, monuments and memorials, museums, archives, and other contexts where we can create encounters with difficult and avoided truths, facilitate the processing of historical trauma, and build commitment to redress.

Being grounded in the black sociological tradition, and committed to a publicly-engaged and collaborative academic practice, I combine traditional scholarship with organizing and creative work. This includes exhibitions and digital projects meant to engage broader audiences, aid innovation in teaching, and extend the visibility, usefulness and impact of research. You can learn more about this work and related projects at my faculty website.