Lazarus Nance Letcher
I started my academic career in music at St. Olaf College. After a lovely breakdown and a trip to Ghana I realized my passion was in studying the complexities of race, gender, and colonialism, leading me to pursue a graduate education in American Studies. My Master's thesis "Transgender Murder Memorials: A Call for Trans Livability and Intersectionality" examined LGBTQIA+ non-profits inability to center and uplift Black trans voices until we're gone. I advanced to Ph.D. candidacy in the fall of 2021. My Black queer art collective Stages of Tectonic Blackness received the National Performance Network Creative Grant to make a video and museum installation on the legacy of Blackdom, New Mexico and other freedom towns and maroon colonies across the Americas.
Selected Publications
- "Tourist in the Homeland" https://www.autostraddle.com/tourist-in-the-homeland/
- "Yelling His Name: Black Trans Mourning and the Murder of Tony McDade" https://www.autostraddle.com/yelling-his-name-black-trans-mourning-and-the-murder-of-tony-mcdade/
- "Gender Fluidity and the Black Atlantic" https://www.autostraddle.com/genderfluid-black-atlantic/
- "Anjimile is a Spiritual Songwriter Using Music to Commune with their Ancestors" https://www.them.us/story/artists-to-watch-anjimile forthcoming
- "From TDOR to Tony McDade: Black Transgender Mourning in the Wake of the Murder of George Floyd" QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking
Courses Taught
- Introduction to Peace Studies
- Introduction to Southwest Studies
Contact
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