Title: Unbridled Geographies: Black Cowboys Riding Resistance and Reclaiming Representation

This powerful research presentation showcases my interdisciplinary work at the intersections of ethnic studies, cultural studies, and gender theory. Through immersive ethnographic fieldwork with Black trail riding clubs and rodeo communities, I illuminate the complex identity negotiations and embodied resistance practices that unsettle dominant narratives surrounding the iconic American cowboy figure.

Integrating insights from anthropological methods, representation critiques, and human territoriality frameworks, I analyze how these communities creatively reclaim fraught spaces and challenge racist, gendered mythologies through stylized performances and symbolic recodings. Key ethnographic vignettes provide nuanced portraits of Black masculine experimentation and the context-specific meanings behind these representational politics.

The presentation engages emergent popular culture moments where Black artists have sparked debates by expanding cowboy associations and intervening in exclusionary cultural boundaries. By situating my work within these conversations, I underscore the urgency of amplifying counternarratives that humanize Black cowboy presences frequently erased or appropriated.

Ultimately, this research agenda positions Black cowboy knowledge systems and lived experiences as vital sources for envisioning more capacious articulations of identity, belonging, and cultural resistance. It exemplifies my commitment to community-engaged pedagogies and mentorship that uplift marginalized voices.  

Through dynamic storytelling and a command of interdisciplinary theories, this presentation captures my scholarly mission: to continually expand and decolonize our understandings of human complexities by centering narratives historically muted, distorted or displaced.

Title: Reimagining Anthropology through Radical Inclusion and Collaborative Transformation,  84th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA). Theme: Enchantment and Transformation
​
This powerful conference presentation encapsulates my clarion call for radically reimagining anthropological theory and praxis through the dual lenses of radical inclusion and collaborative transformation. Delivered at the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) annual meeting, this talk confronts anthropology's complex legacies intertwined with colonialism, exploitation, and the systemic marginalization of oppressed communities. 

​Drawing upon insights from critical race theory, Indigenous studies, and queer anthropology, I outline a bold vision for an inclusive anthropological future - one that centers the voices, perspectives, and self-determined priorities of those historically subjugated, displaced, or rendered exotic "others." This paradigm shift demands dismantling rigidly bounded notions of identity, embracing intersectional complexities, and uplifting ways of being and knowing frequently suppressed by Western hegemonic paradigms.

Central to this reimagined anthropology is catalyzing collaborative transformation alongside marginalized groups as equal partners and co-creators throughout the research process. By building relationships of trust, accountability, and reciprocity, we can co-construct emancipatory knowledge systems that unveil injustice while igniting meaningful structural changes addressing oppressive forces.  

Through vivid ethnographic storytelling, I elucidate the principles and practices defining this inclusive, justice-oriented pivot. From tracing the legacies of Black cowboy "trailblazers" frequently overwritten by exclusionary historical accounts, to uplifting Zora Neale Hurston's radically humanizing approaches, I underscore anthropology's vast untapped potential as an instrument of communal empowerment and self-determined futurity.

Ultimately, this searing presentation embodies my unwavering ethos as a public anthropologist and transformative scholar-activist. It encapsulates my commitment to pushing our discipline's boundaries through immersive methodological innovation, intersectional analysis, and movement-aligned praxis in service of the collective struggle for global social justice.

Next