Rashida K. Braggs

Rashida K. Braggs

Chair and Amos Lawrence Professor of Africana Studies and Faculty Affiliate in Comparative Literature

[email protected]
Website
413-597-4878
Hollander Hall Rm 312
At Williams since 2011

Education

B.A. Yale University
M.S. Boston University
Ph.D. Northwestern University

Areas of Expertise

Performance Studies, Jazz Studies, African Diaspora Studies, Mass Communications (Advertising), Popular Culture Studies and Sport Studies

Courses

AFR 128 / COMP 129 / MUS 179(S) TUT

James Baldwin's Song

AFR 216 / AMST 212 / COMP 212 / DANC 217 SEM

Moving While Black (not offered 2025/26)

AFR 314 / AMST 314 / ENGL 314 / COMP 321(S) LEC

Groovin' the Written Word: The Role of Music in African American Literature

AFR 317 / AMST 317 / DANC 317 / ENGL 317 / THEA 317 / COMP 319(F) SEM

Black Migrations: African American Performance at Home and Abroad

AFR 323 / ARTH 223 / COMP 322 / AMST 323 / ENGL 356 SEM

Comic Lives: Graphic Novels & Dangerous Histories of the African Diaspora (not offered 2025/26)

AFR 440 SEM

CAPSTONE: Performing Blackness (not offered 2025/26)

Scholarship/Creative Work

Select Publications

  • Jazz Diasporas: Race, Music and Migration in Post-World War II Paris. Berkeley: U of California P, 2016.
  • Lischer-Katz, Zack, Carter, Bryan and Rashida K. Braggs. “Volumetric Video: Preservation and Curation Challenges of an Emerging Medium.” International Journal of Digital Curation. 19.1 (2025): 1-23.
  • “Lessons in Black Women’s Laughter: A Play-Essay on Parisian Jazz Journeys,”Women & Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture. 27 (2023): 65-85.
  • Braggs, Rashida with William Murray and Elijah Parks. “Composing Baldwin’s Joyful Song,” James Baldwin Review. 9 (2023).
  • “Herbert Gentry’s Jazz Spirit in Postwar Paris.” Americans in Paris: Artists Working in Postwar France, 1946–1962. Eds. Balken, Debra Bricker and Lynn Gumpert. Munich: Hirmer; New York: Grey Art Gallery, New York University, 2022.

Select Performances

  • Interdisciplinary Performer, Director, and Producer, Amber in the City of Light. United Solo Festival at One Theater, New York City. October 19, 2024.
  • Interdisciplinary Performer, Director, and Producer, Runnin’ to Grace. United Solo Festival’s Virtual Series. July 2021- June 2023.

Awards, Fellowships & Grants

  • Best Multi-Media Show. Awarded by the United Solo Theatre Festival, 2024-2025.
  • Fulbright Global Scholar Award (Canada and France), 2023-2024
  • NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant, 2022-2023.
  • The Cultural Diaspora Residency. Awarded by The Camargo Foundation, 2021-2022

Current Committees

  • British Post Graduate Fellowship Committee

Biography

Rashida K. Braggs is the Amos Lawrence Professor of Africana Studies and department chair, as well as a faculty affiliate in Comparative Literature at Williams College. Her book Jazz Diasporas: Race, Music and Migration in Post-World War II Paris investigates the migratory experiences of African American jazz musicians in 1946-1963 Paris. In her current book & performance project,  she explores the experiences of multiple black jazz women performers of African descent as they migrated to and settled in Paris, France from 1968 to present day. Her work has also been published in such journals as The Journal of Popular Music, The Black Scholar and Women & Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture. Dr. Braggs is a scholar-performer who acts, dances, sings, composes music and performs spoken word. Her performances have been supported by the Williams College Museum of Art, Jacob’s Pillow and the United Solo Theatre Festival.