Okezi Otovo
Assistant Professor of History
Assistant Professor of History
History
Okezi T. Otovo, Assistant Professor of History, received her B.A. in History from Carnegie Mellon University in 1998. She earned her M.A. in Latin American Studies (2002) and Ph.D. in History (2009) from Georgetown University where she was a Patrick Healy University Fellow. At Georgetown, Otovo received research support from the History Department, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Brazilian Studies Program as well as a national fellowship from the Ford Foundation.
Her research interests center on the social and cultural histories of Latin America, particularly issues of race and gender in 19th and 20th-century Brazil. For example, Professor Otovo studies the history of science and public health Latin America as related to the emancipation of slavery and the expansion and limits of citizenship rights for people of African descent. Her current project analyzes the turn-of-the-20th-century campaign for healthier mothers and babies in Brazil, uncovering the lived experiences of poor families as well as the gendered and racialized debates that were fundamental to the construction of a modern state.
Professor Otovo is an avid yogi and loves good food, travel, and samba. She looks forward to learning to ski (hopefully with as few injuries as possible) and hike in the Green Mountains.
Last modified September 10 2009 05:04 PM
