Meet the Team

Dr. Tanya L. Saunders

Dr. Tanya L. Saunders

Dr. Tanya L. Saunders is a sociologist interested in the ways in which the African Diaspora throughout the Americas uses the arts as a tool for social change. They have a Master of Public Policy (MPP) with a focus on International Development Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan, Arbor. They have a Bachelors of Arts in Spanish and Public Policy from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and is currently on the graduate faculty in the School of Education at the University of São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil. As a 2011-2012 Fulbright scholar in Brazil, Dr. Saunders began work on their current project about Black Queer Artivism in Brazil. They are fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and is currently learning Yoruba. Dr. Saunders is the founder and editor-in-chief of Améfrica Press.  Their book Cuban Underground Hip Hop: Black Thoughts, Black Revolution, Black Modernity (University of Texas Press, 2015), has also been translated and published in Portuguese as Modernidade negra: Hip Hop, artivismo e mudança social em Havana (Editus 2021).

Bruna Barros is a translator, filmmaker and writer. Associate Researcher of the Research Group Traduzindo no Atlântico Negro [Translating in the Black Atlantic] (UFBA), they hold a degree in English from Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). As a filmmaker, they wrote and directed the short film "Amor de Ori" (2017) and co-wrote and co-directed the short documentary "à beira do planeta mainha soprou a gente" (2020).

Bruna Barros

Dr. Feibriss Ametista H. M. Cassilhas

Feibriss Ametista H. M. Cassilhas is an Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), affiliated with the NETINDIAFRO program in the undergraduate and graduate programs in Literature and Culture (UFBA). She holds a PhD and a master's degree in Translation Studies from the Graduate Program in Translation Studies (PGET) at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). She earned a degree in English and a bachelor's degree in Translation from the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) in 2009. She is a founding member of the Sarau Vozes Negras @vozesnegras, a Black collective of intersectional poetic-pedagogical practices. She is active in the National Forum of Black Travestis and Transsexuals (FONATRANS). She coordinates Corsciência: Research Group on Translation and Storytelling with Courage (UFBA), develops the research project "Annotated Translation-Storytelling: Dialogues between Black-Authored Storytelling (LGBTQIA+) and Translation Practice" (UFBA), and is a member of the group Translating in the Black Atlantic (UFBA) and the Luiza Bairros Collective (UFBA). She is the organizer and author of the books Black Transvivências: Entre Afectos e Quilombamentos, Contando Histórias Afrodiasporas (Black Transvivences: Between Affects and Quilombaments, Telling Afro-Diasporic Stories), published by Devires; and Translating in the Black Atlantic, Vol. 2 - Exusiac Dynamics, Escape Routes and Performances of Afro-Ancestral Reconnection, published by Ogum's Toques Negros.

Dr. Pablo D. Herrera Veitia is a European Research Council Fellow at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where he leads the I-STREAM project examining intersections of climate change, tourism, and music scenes in Havana. He holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of St Andrews and an MSc in Sound Design from the University of Edinburgh. A CUBADISCO award-winning hip-hop producer performing as Habana Hip Hop, his work bridges ethnomusicology, sound studies, and Afro-diasporic knowledge systems. He has held fellowships at Harvard’s Hiphop Archive (Nasir Jones Fellowship) and the University of Toronto’s Afrosonic Studies program, and is the founder of the Cuban Hip-Hop Archive. His first monograph, Voicing Afro-Cubaneity, is forthcoming with Bloomsbury Academic.

Dr. Pablo D. Herrera Veitia

Drx. A.Tito Mitjans Alayon

Born in Havana, in 1985, Drx. Mitjans Alayon is a transmasc, black feminist, and anti-racist activist. Afrocubanx based in Mexico. Passionate in Black Feminist Epistemologies. PhD in Feminist Studies from UNICACH, Chiapas, Mexico. Currently at a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with SECIHTI scholarship at the Faculty of Anthropology at the University of Veracruz, Mexico. Independent consultant on LGBTQIA+ rights and anti-racism issues. Member of CLACSO's Feminisms, Gender, and Memories Working Group and the Collective to Eliminate Racism A.C. (COPERA).

Dr. Jess Oliveira is a translator, poet and researcher. Dr. Oliveira is an Associate Professor of German Studies at the Federal University of Bahia. They hold a Ph.D. in Literature and Culture from the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil and is a research fellow (CAPES/DAAD) at the University Bayreuth, Germany. They hold a Master’s degree in Translation Studies from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and a B.A. degree in German and Portuguese from the University of São Paulo (USP).  Finalist of the "Jabuti" Award (2020) in the category Translation for their translation into Brazilian Portuguese of "Plantation Memories", by Grada Kilomba.

Dr. Jess Oliveira

Dr. Feva Omo Iyanu

Dr. Feva Omo Iyanu is a writer, translator, and professor of Languages, Literature, and African Studies. They hold a degree in Modern Languages—Portuguese and English—from the Federal University of Bahia, where they also completed their Master's and Doctorate in the Literature and Culture Program. They developed their research in the fields of Translation Studies and African Studies, receiving their doctorate in Critical Theories of Literature and Culture. Their research focuses on traditional communities, Quilombolas and Terreiros de Candomblé communities, understanding the process of historical formation, encompassing the biases of language, culture, epistemology, race, religion, and gender. Their literary production and translation practices are inspired by aspects of Afro-Brazilian and African cultures, engaging primarily with the religiosity and cosmovision learned in Terreiros de Candomblé. Dr. Iyanu currently coordinates the Iorubainidades Cultural Institute, conducting research and studies in the aforementioned fields.

Ayala Tude

English Teacher. Translator. Master’s student in Literature and Culture at the Federal University of Bahia – UFBA. Member and associate researcher of the group Traduzindo no Atlântico Negro [Translating in the Black Atlantic]. Responsible for international communications at Diálogos Insubmissos de Mulheres Negras. Co-founder of the English course in an afro diasporic approach @afrodiasporaconnect.