Sayeed Sanchez Johnson (he/him) '20

Sayeed Sanchez Johnson is a fourth-year student, studying English Literature and African American Studies. With regard to his research, he is interested in the areas of Afro-Latinx Studies, black diaspora literature, postcolonialism, and black sounds studies. His thesis, “Interrupting Space: Black Insurgency and Humanity through the Black Femme Sonic Aesthetic” investigates how black femmes abandon the colonial project of “Man” to propose alternative ways of theorizing black femme subjecthood; his project, under the mentorship of Dr. Alexander Weheliye, thus proposes the Black Femme Sonic Aesthetic as analytic for reading black femme sonic and visual performances, and his research centers on the artists Kelela Mizanekristos (stylized simply as “Kelela” and FKA twigs (Tahlia Debrett Barnett). He has recently been accepted into the Fulbright Fellowship, where he will be working as an English Teaching Assistant for the 2021-2022 year in Madrid, Spain. He ultimately plans to earn his PhD situated in Black Studies.