KAILA ADIA STORY
“Audre Lorde has taught us all that difference within our community is not only OK, but should be celebrated and made visible. My research and activism, I hope, lets LGBTQ folks know that we are always at our best when we work on things that empower our community together,” says Kaila Adia Story, Ph.D. An associate professor in the Departments of Women´s & Gender Studies and Pan-African Studies, and the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Louisville, she does research that explores the intersections of black queer studies and pan-African studies, and their relationship with black feminist theory. Story is widely published in journals and released her first book, Patricia Hill Collins: Receiving Motherhood, last year. She also co-hosts a weekly radio show, “Strange Fruit: Musings on Politics, Pop Culture, and Black Gay Life” on WFPL, the Louisville affiliate of NPR, with Jaison Gardner. “My mama was a great example of empowered black womanhood to me. My father, who loves teaching and mentoring young students of color at the University of Michigan, showed me that intellectual work has the ability to not only enlighten thought, but transform it,” Story says. “I embrace teaching as an opportunity to inspire and transform. I often explain to my students that if they are ideologically comfortable in a classroom, transformative learning is not taking place.” -KL
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