Joanna Da Sylva

Joanna Da Sylva is a doctoral student in the Department of African and African American Studies with a primary field in History. She has an MA in International Affairs from The New School and an MA in Educational Studies from The University of British Columbia. Her research interests lie at the intersections of African histories, development, and gendered dynamics of power. Her current research seeks to revisit Senegal in the 1980s and 1990s, a period defined as Africa’s lost decades, to explore African women’s alternative visions of state and civil society and their commitment to social initiatives—such as education, health, agriculture, and food security—to address the developmental gap.

Joanna’s work is committed to restoring and reclaiming subjugated African histories using African voices and knowledges, which can provide insights into how to address current global socio-political, economic, and environmental issues.