#  Rico Givens-Padilla 

African and African American Studies with a primary field in English

 

 

 



   ![Headshot of Rico Givens-Padilla](/sites/g/files/omnuum8896/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/2026-09/Rico%20Givens%20Padilla.png?itok=wz4sJZ13) 

 



 





 

Rico Givens-Padilla is a doctoral student in Harvard’s Department of African and African American Studies with a primary field in English. His work examines how Black writers and historical figures narrate intimacy, sexuality, pleasure, and the body within systems of racial violence. Before beginning the doctoral program, Rico earned an A.B. in History and Literature and African and African American Studies at Harvard College, where he was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow.

Research interests: 19th- and 20th-century American history and literature, American slavery, literary theory, Black feminist and decolonial theory, psychoanalysis, and gender and sexuality studies.



 

 

 





 

 

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