Adéyínká Àlásadé Davis

Adéyínká Aláṣadé is a practitioner of the public humanities and a scholar of African Studies whose work centers African and African Diaspora knowledge through creative, community‑focused, and interdisciplinary approaches. At the Center for African Studies, she develops and leads programming that brings together students, faculty, artists, and community members to explore African histories, literatures, and cultural expression. She designs African Studies curricula for K-12 through lifelong learners, curates public events that highlight Global African scholarship and expressive traditions, and serves as designer and editor of Habari, the Center’s annual newsletter.

She is the creator and organizer of the Center’s annual multilingual and international African Poetry Reading, Word is Seed—a signature and widely attended campus event that celebrates the linguistic and artistic diversity of the continent, its diasporas, and the wider multicultural global community. She also designs and coordinates scholarly symposia that bring national and international voices into conversation with campus and community audiences.

Her teaching and research interest include the African/Black presence in the Middle East and Indian Ocean worlds—particularly ritual and cultural practices—along with African poetics, Indigenous knowledge systems, and critical health information literacy. She is an herbologist, researcher, and apprentice of African plant medicines.

A published poet and former Poet in Residence for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Urban Studies Program in Chicago, Aláṣadé played a formative role in the city’s early performance-poetry movement, bringing Africana aesthetics and social critique to the forefront of Chicago’s literary scene. She holds an M.A. in African Studies and an M.S. in Library and Information Science, with specializations in health sciences and special collections, from the University of Illinois.