We are honored and excited to have Dr. Dr. Tamara Butler as our evening keynote speaker for our 2021 Locating the Geographies of Black Girlhoods in Education Research Conference.
Dr. Tamara T. Butler is the Executive Director of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture and Associate Dean of Strategic Planning & Community Engagement at the College of Charleston Libraries. As an Assistant Professor of Critical Literacies at Michigan State University, Tamara returned to her South Carolina Sea Island community to continue research connected to her BlackGirlLand Project, which focuses on documenting Black women’s connections to land, memory, and community. The initial research was funded by the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State and a Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship.
As Associate Professor of African American Studies, her research includes Community-Engaged Pedagogies, Black Girl Literacies, and Black women’s narratives connected to land. Dr. Butler’s teaching career includes Education graduate courses and summer enrichment English courses at The Ohio State University as well as undergraduate and graduate English and African American & African Studies courses at Michigan State University. She looks forward to teaching undergraduate African American Studies courses at the College of Charleston.
Dr. Butler is a first-generation college graduate who earned degrees from THE Ohio State University and Xavier University of Louisiana. As a doctoral student, she learned a great deal about the importance of community and mentoring networks as a Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars of Color Fellows (2012-2014). Therefore, she dedicates her time to initiatives and organizations that center equity, responsibility, and accessibility in education and community engagement. She served as a member of the Womxn of Color Initiatives Project at Michigan State. In the field of English Education, she serves as a member of English Language Arts Teacher Educators’ (ELATE) Executive Committee and an editorial board member for various peer-reviewed journals. She previously served as a member of the National Council of Teachers of English’s Standing Committee on Research and continues to review manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals in education.
