Amy Ongiri, Ph.D.

Professor, Ethnic Studies 

Amy Abugo Ongiri joins the faculty at the University of Portland from Lawrence University where they were the Jill Beck Director of Film Studies. They received their B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. Their work focuses on visual culture at the intersection of race, gender, and identity and their book, Spectacular Blackness: The Cultural Politics of the Black Power Movement and the Search for a Black Aesthetic, explores the cultural politics of the Black Power movement, particularly the Black Arts movement’s search to define a “black aesthetic.” Her academic work has been published in College Literature, Journal of African American History, Camera Obscura, Postmodern Culture, Black Filmmaker, The Los Angeles Review of Books and Nka: The Journal of Contemporary African Art. In addition to academic publications, she has also published creative non-fiction in Black Girl Dangerous, Mutha Magazine, Glitterwolf, Black Lesbian Love Lab and the Rad Families anthology. She is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science and a judge for the Webby Awards. Amy and her family enjoy trips to the ocean and exploring the national park system.