Jovonna Jones is a PhD candidate in African & African American Studies at Harvard University, with a secondary field in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Her research interests include social and cultural history, black cultural production in the U.S., visual studies, and political aesthetics. Jovonna’s dissertation traces the historical and imagined presence of black women within American urban housing discourses of the mid-20th century, from federal policy to visual culture. Jovonna has served as a teaching fellow for courses on African American history, black radical movement, and race, gender, and performance. She practices public pedagogy through the Black Studies Reading Room, a monthly public study session on new scholarship, exhibits, and critical ideas in the field, both in and outside of the academy. Jovonna holds a B.A. in African American Studies and Philosophy from Emory University.