Joyce FarleyMy name is Joyce-Zoe Farley; I’m a second-year doctoral student in African American and African Studies (AAAS) with a graduate certification in Advance Journalism. My research focuses on riots, rebellions, civil disturbances and uprisings of the 20th century with the catalyst of the research being Detroit 1967. I will be the first non-traditional dissertation in AAAS producing a documentary film instead of the conventional book. I’m unlike most emerging Black Studies scholars, as oppose to having a background in history, I have a Bachelors in Broadcast Journalism with a minor in Business Management from Hampton University in Hampton, VA. Hampton University is a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) with a rich history of advancing the lives of Black people through education. Additionally, I completed a Masters in Oral History with a concentration in African American studies from Columbia University in New York City. Scholar-entrepreneur-innovator is a title that I enthusiastically embrace and will more than likely be the trajectory of my career once I’ve attained my doctorate here at Michigan State. This path has necessitated a unique set of skills—coding, programming, project development and etc. all found in the Cultural Heritage Informatics (CHI) Fellowship. I’m thrilled to be a 2015-2106 CHI Fellow and explore the digital world.

Check out my latest film from my study abroad this summer at the University of Leiden in Leiden, Netherlands. It is a cross-cultural analysis of two continents through the eyes of an emerging scholar, journalist, independent critical ethnographer and thinker.