Associate Professor, African American Studies, Race and Pedagogy Institute
LaToya Brackett is an Assistant Professor in African American Studies and a member of the Race & Pedagogy Institute's leadership team. Having been trained in the field of Black Studies, both at undergraduate and graduate levels, she teaches the Black world with the interdisciplinary nature of the field.
As an African American Studies scholar, she not only teaches, but also contributes to research and activism related to the advancement of Black communities. Her research interests include popular culture, intercultural communication and interaction, and contemporary issues in the ever growing African Diaspora. Currently, she is conducting research on Black hair in Black places, under the project title of: African Hair Stories. Dr. Brackett has several scholarly writings appearing in, or forthcoming in the following publications: Black Culture and Experience: Contemporary Issues; Race Still Matters: African American Lived Experiences in the Twenty-First Century; FairPlay, Journal of Philosophy, Ethics and Sports Law; Race in American Television: Voices and Visions that Shaped a Nation; and Playing on an Uneven Field: Essays on Exclusion and Inclusion in Sports.
In February 2021, Dr. Brackett published an edited volume discussing the complexities of African American characters as professionals on television series since 1990, Working While Black: Essays on Television Portrayals of African American Professionals.
Dr. Brackett teaches various African American Studies courses: Introduction to African American Studies (AFAM101), Methods in African American Studies (AFAM201), and Public Scholarship (AFAM 399). In her first year of teaching she was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award by the Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound.