Congratulations to our MA graduates!
Sunshine Adam graduated with an MA in Women’s Studies in the Spring of 2021. Thanks to the mentorship of Dr. Della V. Mosley and Dr. Alyssa Zucker, they successfully defended their thesis project titled “Building Academics for Black Lives: Reflections from a Black, Queer, Disabled Organizer.” Since then, they have continued their work with Academics for Black Survival and Wellness, an initiative that moves scholars and academics towards taking action against anti-Black racism. After graduation, they are looking forward to entering life post-academia and working full-time for the healing and liberation of Black and queer folks.
Chelsea Gifford graduated with her MA in Women’s Studies in spring 2021. In March, she successfully defended her thesis project titled, “Dear Diary: Life-Writing as a Radical and Introspective Form of Queer Self-Making.” Chelsea extends tremendous gratitude to her Chair, Dr. Trysh Travis, and committee member, Dr. Elizabeth Garcia, for their continued support and mentorship. She is grateful for her experiences throughout the MA program, specifically her roles as an instructor for the course, “What Is the Good Life,” and her teaching assistantship with Dr. Anita Anantharam for “Transnational Feminism.” Chelsea plans to seek a meaningful career path that combines her passion and dedication to both academic and student affairs.
Sky Martin graduated with her MA in Women’s Studies in Spring 2021. Over the past semester, with the supervision of Dr. Alyssa Zucker, she successfully defended her thesis titled “Black Racial Identity and Feminist Perspectives as Predictors of the Positive Embodiment of Black Women.” She also completed two internships at Bread and Roses Women’s Healthcare Center and Peaceful Paths Domestic Abuse Network over the past semester. She is appreciative of the knowledge, support, and friendship she found within the Center.
Justine Veras graduated with her MA in Women’s Studies in Spring 2021. In March, she successfully defended her thesis project titled, “Afro-Spirituality and Brujeria in Popular Culture” under the supervision of her committee chair Dr. Jillian Hernandez and committee member Dr. Tanya Saunders. Justine plans to continue her lifelong journey of healing, advocating for larger liberty, and living deeply and fully. She extends gratitude to her cohort and all others in Gainesville, at UF, and in the Center who have provided her joy, support, and friendship during her time in the program.
News and updates from our continuing Graduate Students
Terri Bailey will be writing and continuing to conduct research in Black Feminist theory as it relates to her thesis on women in leadership roles in African traditional spiritual practices. She hopes to interview women who are priests in African Traditional Religion from various parts of the diaspora. In addition, she will finish the editing process for Gaineville Proper, her book of poetry focusing on people and places in Gainesville’s historically Black communities (this is in fulfillment of her Alachua County Major Artist Grant obligation). Finally, Terri will host the second installment of her Queens Room wellness series, Warrior Women’s Wellness: Self-Care for the Latinx Feminine Divine midsummer (part one centered on Black Feminists).
Priya Gurjar will continue to work on her MA thesis project, which will center the voices and experiences of victim-survivors of sexual violence. Over the summer, Priya plans to spend time reading, working on her research, and enjoying her time off. She is looking forward to assisting Dr. Zucker and Dr. Coy with tracking attrition in rape prosecution in Alachua County during the fall.
Bailey Haas will continue research for her MA thesis. This project examines how online spaces allow for consciousness raising and intersectional activism. She looks forward to taking the summer to narrow her scope and explore the work that is being done across mediums such as podcasts, Instagram posts, and TikToks. Bailey is also looking forward to meeting her cohort and the Center faculty and staff in person for the first time!
Maria Saldana will continue research on her MA thesis, focusing on the narratives of the Queer Peruvian Diaspora. She will spend the summer interviewing self-identifying Queer Peruvians and archiving their testimonios with the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program. Maria is looking forward to hearing their stories as well as continuing her work with the PUMAS Collective, a formation of Peruvians in the diaspora that works towards social change with Peruvians back home. She is excited to keep building community with her cohort in the fall and dreams of attending many perreos when it is safe to do so.
Jess Trochez will continue research on her MA project, delving into an interrogation of the colonial violence against queer communities in Honduras. Their MA project will specifically center sex workers and the collective ways they promote their wellness and liberation. To illuminate how systems of oppression actively target sex workers, their project positions sex work as a site of queer resistance and decolonization, unraveling the racialized heteropatriarchal values of colonial violence in Honduras as well. For her project, Jess is looking forward to spending the summer reading about sex work in Honduras, searching for poetry written by people in or from Honduras and expanding on her own poetry.
Lucy Xie will be writing and conducting research for her MA thesis. Her project historically and geopolitically contextualizes the rise in COVID-19 related hate crimes against Asian American people. She is excited to be reunited with her family after a year abroad, and will be taking time to read, explore, and better understand Asian feminisms this summer.