Nkemka Anyiwo

Dr. Nkemka Anyiwo is an artist and youth advocate dedicated to cultivating loving and culturally affirming realities for and alongside Black youth. She uses a multimethod, transdisciplinary approach to identify communal and contextual influences that shape how Black youth: 1) conceptualize their social identities and sociopolitical ideologies and 2) engage in practices to promote social justice and cultivate personal and collective wellness. Across this work, she engages media and creativity as a tool to foreground the lived realities and voices of Black youth. Core to Dr. Anyiwo’s work is the conviction that the brilliance and innovation of Black youth are essential to knowledge production and social transformation. She seeks to work in community with youth, and the important figures in their lives, to design research projects, policies, and programs that are grounded in wellness, justice, and radical joy. Dr. Anyiwo earned her M.S.W. and Ph.D. in Social Work and Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and B.As in Psychology and African American Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park.