Africana Studies / Rites and Reason Theatre

Lydia Kelow-Bennett is an Assistant Professor of Afro-American & African Studies at the University of Michigan. She completed her Ph.D. in Africana Studies at Brown University in 2018. Lydia holds a B.A. in Communication from the University of Puget Sound and a Masters in Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University. Her research interests include Black women’s intellectual history, Black cultural studies, and Black geographies. Lydia’s dissertation project constructs radical genealogies of Black feminism and womanism, in order to address neoliberal discourses in academic and popular Black feminisms. Prior to graduate school, Lydia worked in public secondary education, higher education administration and student affairs for several years, specializing in advocacy and anti-oppression work. She currently serves on the Governing Council of the National Women’s Studies Association, where she is also a member of the Women of Color Leadership Project Advisory Board and is completing her final year as Co-Chair of the Women of Color Caucus.