Fernanda Villarroel Lamoza Assistant Professor of Africana Studies

I am a specialist in contemporary art and visual culture from Africa and the Global Diaspora, with a particular focus on Black Feminist Studies, Queer Theory, and Decolonial Practice. Born in Chile, I received a degree in Anthropology from the University of Chile, Santiago, before continuing my studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I completed a MA in Anthropology (2014) and a PhD in Art History (2021).

As a first-generation graduate coming of age in the wake of a violent dictatorship, my practice-oriented research draws from my in-depth analysis of artworks, proficiency in Yoruba and Hausa languages, and extensive fieldwork mostly in Nigeria and the U.S. but also the U.K., Germany, and Italy. For this aim I have received numerous awards, including Fulbright-Hays D. D.R.A, Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship; A.A.U.W Fellowship (2020–21, declined); and The Sylvan C. Coleman and Pam Coleman Memorial Fund Fellowship from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (2021-2022).

My first book project, Refiguring the Feminine: Reparative Art Practices from the Black Atlantic, proposes and understanding of the feminine as a strategic position for artists and critics to read against the narratives that have historically delegitimized and devalued Black lives, philosophies, and aesthetics.