Maya is a PhD student in Geography who studies the relationships between gentrification, Black identity formation, bureaucracy, geographies of urban justice, and struggles over public (and private) space. In particular, she investigates how these entanglements might be instructive for alternative futures. She looks at the relationship between local and federal government policies that have unevenly impacted Black neighborhoods, and the ways Black residents resist physical and cultural displacement in their attempts to reclaim their neighborhoods. Historically, local government policies and practices in the US have contributed to the growth of segregated geographies and the banishment of Black people from their neighborhoods, but at the same time Black people have worked to stay and create spaces in diverse and interesting ways.
Maya calls both Humboldt, California, and Bradenton, Florida home!
