Taylor Coleman
Taylor Coleman is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Africana and American Studies. She obtained her Master's in Humanities at UB in 2017 and her undergraduate degree in Spanish and International Studies from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. As a 2012 Fulbright grantee and a 2022 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellow, Taylor's research has been funded to include Afro-Latin American history, Pan-Africanism in the Hispanophone Caribbean, and black twentieth-century sociopolitical movements. Her dissertation, entitled "Converging Diasporas: Garveyism, 'Afrolatinidades', and the Pan-Africanist Vision in the Hispanic Caribbean," explores the myriad ways in which Afro-Latin American communities in, beyond, and between the US, Latin America and the Caribbean, both responded to and engaged with central tenets of twentieth-century Garveyism. Through a focus on the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, this work uniquely seeks to expand the understanding of global black freedom struggles by tracing how conceptions of blackness (and its relationship to the nation-state) are forged across cultural and linguistic boundaries.
I chose UB back in 2015 (initially) for their master's program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLAS). Though the program availability shifted, I chose to stay at UB due to faculty being so supportive of my research interests and possibilities for future graduate studies. I chose to stay at UB while pursuing my PhD for many of those same reasons!
My experience so far with UB faculty and students has been awesome! My graduate advisor has been extremely supportive of my research and it has been great to discuss possibilities and perspectives with other faculty members who have similar interests. Their input has helped tremendously! As a TA, having students who are genuinely interested in coursework and topics discussed really help to make for a great semester!
The support that comes from faculty and other students interested in your work is really unmatched. Colleagues who are further along in the PhD process are always willing to lend advice, suggestions, etc. Faculty members continuously offering different perspectives on your work. It all makes you more confident in the work that you're looking to contribute. It helps your self-esteem! The road to a PhD is no easy feat and having people around you to cheer you on makes it much more bearable. - Taylor Coleman
*The Department of Transnational Studies is now called the Department of Africana and American Studies