Women & Politics: Black Women Leading the Culture Discussion

Today we talk with two women who are leading the cultural discussions in the community and academia.

Dawn Johnson, J.D., Ph.D.

Black Feminist Professor

Aspiring Leader in Black Feminist Thought, Culture, and Digital Media Studies

Dawn Johnson, J.D., Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor, in the GSWS Department. She is a social media enthusiast, feminist pedagogy researcher, and an aspiring educator from rural Virginia. She received her Ph.D. from VCU’s Media Art and Text, an interdisciplinary program, in May 2021. Dawn also obtained a certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at VCU. Dawn has a background in English and law and policy with a JD from the University of Richmond and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia. Her areas of interest include feminist research, Black feminism, and digital media studies, applying a lens of intersectionality, gender studies, social media studies, critical race feminism, and social justice matters. Dawn’s dissertation is entitled: Black Feminist Thought, Interrupted – Dissecting the Voice of Black Feminists in the Blogosphere and their Engagement with Platform Affordances.

On a personal note, Dawn enjoys writing, reading, and planning events. Also, she has self-published a poetry book. In her downtime, which is very little, she loves to spend time connecting with her husband, family, and friends. You can read more about Dawn on her personal website – dawngjohnson.com.

Julian Glover, PhD

Julian Kevon Glover is an assistant professor of Dance + Choreography, an Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry and Innovation Core Member, and an LGBTQIA iCubed visiting scholar. She is currently a Franke Fellow at Northwestern’s Kaplan Institute for the Humanities and her work appears in publications including Harvard Kennedy School’s LGBTQ Policy Journal; American Quarterly; Souls: A Critical Journal of Back Politics, Culture and Society; and Text and Performance Quarterly. She was also recently inducted into the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society at Yale University. Her dissertation is a performance ethnography of the experiences of transgender women in the ballroom scene across Chicago, London, Paris, and Amsterdam. Glover is an advisory board member of the TransLife Center—a program of the Chicago House and Social Service Agency designed to provide transgender and gender-nonconforming people with access to housing, employment opportunities, and healthcare. She has also worked for several national progressive nonprofit organizations including the National LGBTQ Task Force, the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. She has a Ph.D. in African American Studies from Northwestern University and holds an MPA from Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Glover earned a BS in speech communications with a double minor in music (cello performance) and sociology (emphasis on gender and sexuality) from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

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