Olivia Kerr (she/they) is in the Ph.D. program within the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania as a William Fontaine Fellow. Prior to attending Penn in the Fall of 2023, Olivia completed her B.A. in African & African American Studies with a minor in History at Washington University in St. Louis in the Spring of 2023 as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow.
Olivia’s research explores the contours of twentieth-century African American women’s lives through archival analyses. Foundationally, Olivia is interested in Black life within the early-to-mid twentieth century United States and the intracommunal dynamics within the Black public sphere. More broadly, she parses through the tangible and epistemic manifestations of Blackness, gender, class, and sexuality during the period--specifically regarding African American women. Her archival analyses draw primarily from written and print archives. Olivia's social historical work interrogates and highlights the interior lives of African American women by employing a historical methodological approach influenced by Black Feminist Epistemologies, Black queer theory, and a decoloniality lens.
Olivia is happy to speak to prospective students and/or those interested in her research.