Dr. Kimberly Eison Simmons , MA

Dr. Kimberly Eison Simmons is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina (USC). She has served as an Associate Dean in the South Carolina Honors College, Director of the Latin American Studies Program, and Interim Director of the Institute for African American Research at USC. With roots in Tennesee and Gary Indiana, she received her doctorate in Anthropology from Michigan State University, where she was also a Researcher-in-Residence with the African Diaspora Research Project. Much of her research focuses on cultural identities, race and gender, color and colorism, women’s organizations, and Blackness in the African Diaspora, with a particular emphasis on Afro-Dominicans and African Americans. Kimberly is the author of Reconstructing Racial Identity and the African Past in the Dominican Republic (University Press of Florida, 2009) and co-editor of Afrodescendants, Identity, and the Struggle for Development in the Americas (Michigan State University Press, 2012). She is currently working on two book projects. The first book focuses on global Blackness and the natural hair movement in the Dominican Republic and the United States, and the second book concerns African American culture. Kimberly is a former President of the Association of Black Anthropologists, a recipient of the Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award at USC, and the CEO of Inclusive Excellence, LLC, a company focused on DEI and international education.