Shani Mott is an Assistant Professor of English and Director of Africana Studies. She received her BA from Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) and her PhD in American Culture at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI). While she teaches classes in 20th century American, Caribbean, and African American literature, she focuses specifically on how the histories of U.S. racial formations and social movements have continually shaped these literatures.

Outside of the classroom, Shani’s interests lie in the theatre, or more specifically, using the theatre as a way to teach and make public untold histories and marginalized literatures. She is currently working on a script about Miami, tourism, and how the development of highway 95 impacted certain communities.