Tanya Saunders
Language, Literacy and Culture
They/Them/Theirs/Themselves
About
Dr. Tanya L. Saunders is a sociologist and cultural studies scholar who is interested in the ways in which the African Diaspora throughout the Americas uses the arts as a tool for social change, specifically through decolonizing systems of thinking and knowing in the Americas. Dr. Saunders was a Mark Claster Mamolen Fellow (2022) at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & American Research, where they began working on their book tentatively entitled Estéticas do Bapho: Queering Black Brazilian Artivism and Politics of Liberation.
Research interests
African Diaspora Studies, Afro-Latinx, Black Feminisms, Black Queer Studies, Race, Gender, Sexuality, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Sociology of Culture, Social Movements, Sociology of Music, Sociology of Art, Postcolonial/Coloniality Studies, Hemispheric Studies
Teaching interests
African Diaspora Studies, Cultural Sociology and Cultural Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Gender and Sexuality, LGBTQ+ Studies, Race and Ethnicity
Education
- Ph D, Sociology — University of Michigan (2008)
- Ph D, Sociology — University of Michigan Ann Arbor (2008)
- Graduate Certificate, Sexuality, Culture and Society — University of Amesterdam (2001)
- Other, Summer Institute on Sexuality, Culture and Society — University of Amsterdam (2001)
- Other, International Development Policy — (2001)
- Other, Master of Public Policy — Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2001)
- BA, Political Science and Spanish — St. Mary's College of Maryland (1998)
- BA, Political Science and Spanish — St. Mary’s College of Maryland (1998)
- Other, Certificate of Hispanic Studies — University of Salamanca (1996)
- Other, Hispanic Studies — (1996)