Joshua K. Reason (they/them) is a Black genderqueer scholar from the Bay Area who combines performance, geography, and oral history to capture the material and affective registers of Black queer and trans life. Though based in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, their dissertation project is rooted in a fervent commitment to transnational solidarity, connecting the aesthetics, longings, and political strivings of Black queer and trans communities across the Americas.
Joshua is currently a first-year student and William Fontaine Fellow in Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. They also received their Master of Arts in Latin American Studies (with a portfolio in LGBTQ Studies) from The University of Texas at Austin, as well as their Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies (with a certificate of advanced study in Spanish) from Carleton College. Their work has been generously supported by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship.