Dr. Christen Smith

Biography

Christen Smith is a Black feminist and African diaspora anthropologist whose work explores the multi-sided dimensions of race, gender, violence, and performance of Blackness in the Americas. Her research and writing take a two-pronged approach: studying the transnational, gendered politics of anti-Black state violence in Brazil and across the Americas—particularly in policing—and examining the intellectual contributions of Black women in the Americas, especially in relation to transnational Black feminism. In 2017, she initiated Cite Black Women, a transnational project aimed at raising awareness about society's tendency to overlook Black women's intellectual contributions. Smith authored the book 'Afro-Paradise: Blackness, Violence and Performance in Brazil', which examines police violence against the Black community in Brazil through the lens of theater and performance. Additionally, she co-authored 'The Dialectic is in the Sea: The Black Radical Thought of Beatriz Nascimento', which curates and translates the works of the significant Black Brazilian scholar Beatriz Nascimento into English. Furthermore, she is the co-editor of 'Black Feminist Constellations: Black Women in Dialogue and Translation', a collection that showcases Black feminist reflections from Latin America and the Caribbean. Smith's fourth book, 'Frequency: Black Women Atlantic', meditates on Black women's experiences of violence and freedom throughout the Atlantic world and is currently being prepared for publication by Duke University Press. Smith serves as an associate editor for Transforming Anthropology, a journal of the Association of Black Anthropologists, and teaches courses on topics related to African diaspora anthropology, gender, race, and violence.

Research Interests

Courses