Kia Caldwell has conducted innovative research in the United States and Brazil focusing on gender and racial equity and intersectionality. Her research highlights how the relationship between race and gender shapes Black women’s experiences, as well as activism, in Brazil, the United States, and other areas of the Americas. She has also conducted HIV/AIDS and public health research in Brazil and the United States. Her books include Negras in Brazil: Re-envisioning Black Women, Citizenship, and the Politics of Identity (Rutgers University Press, 2007) and Health Equity in Brazil: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Policy (University of Illinois Press, 2017). She has also co-edited Gendered Citizenships: Transnational Perspectives on Knowledge Production, Political Activism and Culture (Palgrave, 2009) and Engaging the African Diaspora in K-12 Education (Peter Lang, 2020).
She is a passionate advocate for gender and racial equity in higher education and has developed innovative and impactful professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers through her work as the Co-founder and Director of the African Diaspora Fellows Program. She has received grants and fellowships from the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, UNC Center for AIDS Research, Mellon Foundation, and the American Psychological Association. From 2018 to 2021, she served as a Co-PI for a nearly $1 million National Science Foundation Grant at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Her research has been published in academic journals in the U.S. and Brazil, such as Social Science & Medicine, The Journal of the National Medical Association, Meridians, Revista Estudos Feministas (Brazil), and Saúde em Debate (Brazil). Her writings have also appeared in the Washington Post, the Conversation, and the Raleigh News & Observer.
Her current projects include an anthology on transnational Black feminisms and research on Black women’s engagement in electoral politics and democratic imaginations in the United States and Brazil.
Recent Publications:
Edna Maria de Araujo, Kia Lilly Caldwell, Márcia Pereira Alves dos Santos, Ionara
Magalhães de Souza, Patrícia Lima Ferreira Santa Rosa, Andreia Beatriz Silva dos
Santos, Luís Eduardo Batista. “Morbimortalidade pela COVID-19 segundo raça/cor
/etnia: a experiência do Brasil e dos Estados Unidos,”Saúde em Debate, vol. 44
(December 2020), Special Issue 4, p. 191-206.
http://revista.saudeemdebate.org.br/sed/issue/view/42/v.%2044%2C%20n.%20ESPECIAL%204
“Teaching Slavery beyond the United States” in Engaging the African Diaspora in K
through 12 Education, edited by Kia Lilly Caldwell and Emily Chávez. New York:
Peter Lang, 2020.
Kia Lilly Caldwell, “The Contours and Contexts of Afro-Latin American Women’s Activism.”
In The Handbook of Afro-Latin American Politics, edited by Ollie Johnson III and Kwame
Dixon, 249-270. New York: Routledge, 2019.
Vijaya Hogan, Edna M. de Araujo, Kia L. Caldwell, Sarah Gonzalez-Nahm, and Kristin Z. Black,
“‘We Black Women Have to Kill a Lion Everyday’: Toward an Intersectional Analysis of
Racism and Social Determinants of Health in Brazil,” Social Science and Medicine, Special
Issue on Racism and Health Inequalities, vol. 199 (February 2018), p. 96-106.
Niasha Fray and Kia Lilly Caldwell, “Communication between Middle SES Black Women and
Healthcare Providers about HIV Testing,” Journal of the National Medical Association,
vol. 109, no. 2, 2017, p. 115-125.
Sonia Alvarez, Kia Lilly Caldwell, and Agustín Lao-Montes, “Guest Editors’ Introduction:
Translations across Black Feminist Diasporas,” Meridians, vol. 14, no. 2, 2016, p. v-ix.
Kia Lilly Caldwell, “Charting a Path Towards Racial Health Equity in Brazil: Health Activism,
the State, and Policy Development,” National Political Science Review, vol. 18, no. 1,
2016, p. 89-109.
Kia Lilly Caldwell “Black Feminism and HIV/AIDS in Brazil: Intersections and Ruptures,” Special
Issue on Afro-descendant Feminisms in the Americas, Meridians, vol. 14, no. 1, 2016,
p. 121-147.
Sonia Alvarez and Kia Lilly Caldwell, “Promoting Feminist Amefricanidade: Bridging Black
Feminist Cultures and Politics in the Americas,” Meridians, vol. 14, no. 1, 2016, p. v-xi.