Dr. Tanya L. Saunders is interested in the ways in which the African Diaspora throughout the Americas use the arts as a tool for social change. As a 2011-2012 Fulbright Scholar to Brazil they began work on their current project which analyzes Black Queer Activism in Brazil. This is a continuation of their research on arts-based social movements in the Americas. Dr. Saunders holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Master of International Development Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. They are, in their own words, “so fricken excited about being a LGBTQ Affairs Faculty Fellow!!!”

Their book on Cuban Underground Hip Hop can be found here: http://goo.gl/fhqrBt. They also have a recently published chapter in No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Studies found here: https://goo.gl/RkS7c2. For those of you who read/speak Portuguese, check out their essay “Epistemologia negra sapatao como vetor de uma praxis humana libertaria” found here: https://goo.gl/WamUBM.