Africana Studies / Rites and Reason Theatre

zuri arman is a writer, curator, and cultural organizer from Charlotte, North Carolina. As a continued
student of black studies, he holds a BA in Africana Studies and Philosophy which he received with
honors. Their dissertation project interrogates the function and form of methodological thinking in
the post-Enlightenment production of knowledge relative to the autopoetic reproduction of black
social captivity in politics and aesthetics. It contributes to an emerging heretical intellectual
constellation called dark black studies. Additionally, his research interests include black critical theory,
cultural theory, critical gender and sexuality studies, intellectual history, and black political thought.
zuri’s poetry and prose is forthcoming or featured in TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies,
Ufahamu: Journal of African Studies, a special issue of Interviewing the Caribbean ed. by Carol Boyce
Davies, Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies (PM Press), Burnaway Magazine of
Contemporary Art from the South, Collision Literary Magazine, and Rock the Bells. Additionally, zuri
is the co-founder and editor of (de)cypher: dark notes on the culture, a journal and porous thought
space bridging politics, art, and black studies (cypheringwhile.black; @darkdecypher). In their free
time, he enjoys correctly guessing astrology signs, rapturous laughter with friends, and asking
questions to which there is no sens(i/a)ble answer or solution.