Hi, I’m Laysi
Reimagining Knowledge and Resistance
“I am a writer, researcher, and activist committed to challenging the epistemological frameworks that sustain modernity. My work is grounded in the critique of antiblackness as a structural and transhistorical force, rejecting categories such as ‘the Human’ and ‘the Social,’ which have historically excluded Black people from the human family”
Through an anti-methodological approach, I seek to dismantle traditional academic practices that reproduce antiblackness. Instead, my scholarship centers on concepts such as “wake work,” “ungendering,” and “antiarchives,” creating frameworks that resist racial terrorwhile imagining alternative futures rooted in collective possibilities.
Core Commitments:
- Interrogating the structural role of antiblackness in shaping modernity
- Elevating Black epistemologies, queer critiques, and diasporic traditions as transformative sites of knowledge production.
- Rejecting the institutionalization of diversity that obscures the material realities of Black suffering and resistance.
Inspired by thinkers such as Saidiya Hartman, Christina Sharpe, Sylvia Wynter, and Cedric Robinson, my work critically examines how racial terror and the structural positioning of Blackness inform modernity’s exclusions while fostering possibilities for rupture, resistance, and re-existence.
Vision:
My academic and creative endeavors are inherently political, striving to connect intellectual inquiry with tangible action. I aim to forge pathways for reimagining futures that challenge the limits of coloniality and center the experiences, memories, and resistances of Black communities globally.
Early on
I hold a Law degree from the Faculty of Law of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo (2018), and a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Citizenship from the University of Brasília (2021). Currently, I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), where I investigate the intersections of state terror, antiblackness, and collective resistance, focusing geographically on Brazil, the United States, Colombia, and South Africa. My work explores racial terror, premature deaths, and the reimagining of futures through anti-archives and Black collective memory.
I have extensive experience in academia, advocacy, and international collaborations. Selected for the inaugural cohort of the Afro Policy Mentorship Program by MSD Brazil, I developed advanced skills in policy formulation, government relations, and DE&I strategies. My engagement included presenting innovative solutions to complex market access challenges and contributing to ESG goals.
In my role as a Teaching Assistant at UCR, I have received top evaluations for creating an inclusive learning environment and mentoring undergraduate students in courses like Cultural Anthropology and World Prehistory. Additionally, I contributed as a Graduate Research Assistant to projects on African-American oral histories and community health interventions, demonstrating my commitment to social justice and culturally responsive research methodologies.
My professional journey also includes representing Criola at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, conducting research on Quilombola education funded by CEERT, and collaborating with the UN Special Rapporteur on Hansen’s disease. As the founder of O Levante – Support Network for Black People in Academia, I have developed initiatives to empower Black scholars through mentorship, resource sharing, and community-building efforts.
Through these experiences, I have honed a wide range of competencies, including policy analysis, stakeholder engagement, interdisciplinary research, and advocacy. My interdisciplinary approach bridges academia and practice, aiming to create impactful solutions to systemic inequities and foster transformative change.
Current
Anthropology (2022 – present): University of California, Riverside, US-CA.