» Robin M. Boylorn (Ph.D., University of South Florida) is an Associate Professor of Interpersonal and Intercultural Communication in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama, where she teaches and writes about issues of social identity and diversity, with an emphasis on the visibility and lived experience of black women. She is an internationally recognized scholar and the author of the award-winning monograph Sweetwater: Black Women and Narratives of Resilience (available in a revised edition), co-editor of Critical Autoethnography: Intersecting Cultural Identities in Everyday Life, and co-writer and editor of The Crunk Feminist Collection. She has published over two dozen scholarly book chapters and journal articles, but is also known for her black feminist public intellectualism with the Crunk Feminist Collective. Her public writing and cultural commentary has been published in venues including Slate, Ebony, The Guardian, Salon, and the now-defunct Gawker. She is currently working on her second monograph, Blackgirl Blues, and is a commentator for Alabama Public Radio. Visit robinboylorn.com for more information on her work and words.

» Andrea Dobynes was born in Petersburg,VA, but considers herself a product of the Blackbelt because she spent most of her childhood in historic Marion, Alabama. A two-time alumnus of The University of Alabama, Ms. Dobynes earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies, and a Master of Arts degree in Gender and Race Studies. In her spare time she enjoys writing poetry, reading, spreading awareness for social justice, mentoring youth, and traveling. She is currently preparing for law school.

» Tracy Dorsey (pen Hazel Mills), knew she wanted to be a writer from the time she penned her first poem in third grade. Tracy has written 3 novels and published numerous short stories and articles. Her first book, Bare Necessities: Sensuous Tales of Passion, was nominated for an African American Literary Award in 2008 and was voted Best Erotic Fiction by African Americans on the Move Book Club in 2009. Tracy was included in Who's Who in Black Birmingham 2009 and Who's Who in Black Alabama in 2014. Tracy lives in Birmingham with her husband and three boys.

» Delilah Gilliam is a Richmond, Virginia based creative, the product of southern farmland rearing, PWI survivor, black female storyteller, activist, big ole geek and lover of all furry creatures.

» Salaam Green (M.S.) is an award winning poet and author, the 2016 Poet Laureate for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a CO.STARTERS and TEDx Speaker Birmingham alum, social entrepreneur, and daughter of Alabama's Black Belt. As owner and founder of Literary Healing Arts and Red Couch Writers, she can be found helping others write to heal on red couches across the city. She is a New Economy Coalition Climate Solutions Fellow and an advocate for environmental and restorative justice in rural Alabama. A writer and storyteller, her work has appeared in The Birmingham Times, Scalawag, Bust, Feminist Review, Black Youth Project, Elephant Journal, Southern Women's Review, AL.com, Birmingham Arts Journal and more.

» Kristina Hamlett is a blogger, speaker, writer and human services professional. She is a graduate of Shenandoah University with a B.S. in Psychology. Her work has been published on sites such as Kimberly Elise, Be Moved, Sharvette Mitchell and Life in 10 Minutes. She was a featured author on the RVA Lit Crawl 2017 and is the author of "What I Love About You: A Guided Journal to Writing Your Proposal and Vows."" Visit her website here.

» Lakeesha Harris is the Director of Reproductive Health and Justice at Women With a Vision, Inc. in New Orleans. She is also the co-founder of Black Witch University, a Maroon Mystery School for Black diasporic occult practices. Lakeesha holds a Bachelor's Degree in Women and Gender Studies from Northeastern Illinois University, and Master's level credits in Political Science. Selected as an Illinois Student Laureate she has received numerous awards for her work as a community activist, poet, and one of the Founders of Seeds Literary Arts Journal of NEIU. As a Playwright her collaborative political literary work, Spirit House, was commissioned by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center.

» Jameka Hartley is a doctoral candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at The University of Alabama. She is her mother's daughter and her children's mother. The simultaneous identities of Black mother and Black daughter shape her life and her scholarship. Her previous clinical experience as a social worker also influences how she views the world and impacts her scholarly work. Academically, Jameka uses qualitative methodologies along with poetic analytics to (re)present Black women. Jameka is passionate about interrogating and repairing representations of Black women and Black motherhood.

» Cassandra Jones is an education reformer. She was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her love for storytelling developed while thumbing through her favorite books in the library as a child. Through her work, she seeks to source the stories of movement work that are within our own family and community history.

» Bernadette Merikle is a mother modeled in the evolutionary lineage of strong southern black women who came before her. An artist, curious soul, and thought provoker, Bernadette explores black sensuality and identity decoupled from white supremacist and white centered narratives. She is on Instagram as @imanisasa and curates her #unhook #uselesswhite work for those who wish to go deeper here.

» Jilisa Milton is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Alabama Disability Advocacy Program in Montgomery, Alabama. She coordinates the Black Belt Disability Justice Project, which advocates for children with mental health and Autism Spectrum disorders who are involved in the school to prison pipeline in the rural black belt region of Alabama known for its agricultural slave history and history of civil rights. Jilisa is a native of Birmingham, AL and is a community organizer, social worker, and attorney who uses storytelling in various capacities to describe and advocate for civil rights and human rights changes in the south, as well as preserving the true history of southern black folk. She is passionate about criminal justice reform and restorative justice.

» Oluwadamilola Opayemi is a doctoral student in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama. Originally from Nigeria, she grew up in Lagos and has lived in Connecticut where she earned a Master's degree in Communication (MS). Her research and teaching interests are in strategic, interpersonal, and intercultural communication. Her hobbies include singing, dancing, and watching movies. She also has a keen interest in French and Korean languages.

» Rachel Raimist is a television director, producer and scholar. She's directed episodes of Roswell, New Mexico (The CW) and Queen Sugar and Greenleaf for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Her previous work includes numerous documentary and narrative films, music videos, and live event projects. Raimist spent 10 years as a professor of media production at the University of Alabama, where she earned tenure, developed an immersive industry summer program in LA and served as Co-Director of the UA Creative Campus. She is a member of the Crunk Feminist Collective as well as the Directors Guild of America, where she participates in the Women's Steering Committee and the Latino Steering Committee. Raimist holds a M.F.A. in Film Directing and a B.A. in Film Production/Directing from UCLA and a Ph.D. in Feminist Studies and an M.A. in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Minnesota where the Rachel Raimist Feminist Media Center was named in her honor.

» Allison Upshaw is the newly appointed Arts Program Officer for the Black Belt Community Foundation in Selma, AL. She is also a Visiting Professor of Fine Arts at Stillman College, and continues to maintain her own creative education consultancy—OPERAtunities. Prior to completing her doctorate, Allison has held a variety of employment positions including ones as a diversity trainer, college counselor, cultural center director, poetry performer, professional actress, and opera singer. She holds a doctorate in interdisciplinary studies (aesthetic meaning making/performance/education) from the University of Alabama, as well as voice performance degrees from LSU and Oberlin Conservatory. In addition to being a professional actress, her first short play was presented in Theatre Tuscaloosa's Festival of One Acts (Tuscaloosa, AL) in Spring 2019.

» Veralyn Williams is a Peabody award-winning journalist, producing for WNYC's Radio Rookies and The Stakes. Williams has been tackling questions on identity, social norms, and community since she picked up her first microphone in 2004. Previously, she was a member of Slate Magazine's podcast team. While there, she launched and produced Slate's film and TV podcast, Represent, revamped Slate's feminist podcast, The Waves, and produced the inaugural season of Panoply's Family Ghosts. Williams has also worked as managing editor of Brooklyn Deep, a digital investigative news, analysis, and data website chronicling neighborhood change in Central Brooklyn. Through all of her endeavors, Williams aims to amplify perspectives often forgotten in the media.

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Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies (issn: 1557-2935)

editor-in-chief: Michael LeVan (Washington State University, Vancouver)
managing editor: Greg Langner (California State University, Los Angeles)
the city editor: Daniel Makagon (DePaul University)
digital horizons editors: Craig Gingrich-Philbrook (Southern Illinois University) and Daniel (Jake) Simmons
   (Missouri State University)
performance & pedagogy editor: Christopher J. McRae (University of South Florida)
book review editor: Christopher J. McRae (University of South Florida)

banner image and issue images by Bernadette Merikle