Chantel McCrea '24

Chantel McCrea is a junior in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences from Rochester, NY studying African American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her academic interests include Performance Studies, Trans Studies, Black Feminism, Affect Theory, and Sex Work. Previously, they have conducted archival research on Octavia Butler and conducted and transcribed oral history interviews for Emergence: Intersections at the Center, an exhibition at the South Side Community Art Center that is open until July 2nd that looks at Black Queer art and artists in 20th century Chicago. For this project, she is working alongside Dr. Josh Chambers-Letson on a project interrogating care, intimacy, love and empathy and exploring forms of the aforementioned subjects that are undervalued and denigrated through the lens of Black trans femme performance art and sex work with the desire to destabilize care and intimacy as well as to develop an alternative theory of relationality. Chantel hopes to become a professor and in their free time they can be found reading, exploring Chicago, meeting new people at
cafes, listening to music, writing, and singing.