M. Bahati Kuumba Ph.D., is a scholar-activist who holds the positions of Professor of Comparative Women’s Studies and Associate Director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center (WRRC) at Spelman College. She is also the co-founding faculty facilitator of the Toni Cade Bambara Scholars/Writers/Activists, a student-engagement project of the Women’s Center.
Her scholarly research, activism, publications and public talks focus on African and African diasporan women transnationally in the areas of social activism/resistance movements, reproductive justice, and global African/Black feminist praxis. She has founded and/or participated in a range of social justice organizations and campaigns, including: Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide, the Venceremos Brigade, Human Rights Atlanta and Women Engaged. In addition to international teaching stints in South Africa and Zimbabwe, Bahati has worked transnationally with women-led organizations in Cuba, South Africa, Uganda and Brazil.
Dr. Kuumba has published numerous book chapters and articles in a range of scholarly journals, such as: Sociological Forum; Mobilization: International Journal of Social and Political Movements; and Agenda – Empowered Women for Gender Equity (a South African feminist journal). Her first book, Gender and Social Movements, which focuses comparatively on women in the U.S. Civil Rights/Black Power and South African Anti-Apartheid movements (AltaMira Press, 2001), will be followed by a co-edited interdisciplinary anthology, Transnational Transgressions: African and African Diasporan Women in Transformational Struggle (under contract with Africa World Press). M. Bahati Kuumba’s honors include the Spelman College Presidential Award for Scholarship, Fannie Lou Hamer Achievement Award and the Lucy Terry Prince National Black Herstory Award.