Atesede Makonnen

Atesede Makonnen (she/her) is an assistant professor in Literary and Cultural Studies in the Department of English. Her research focuses on eighteenth and nineteenth-century Britain and investigates how the approaching end of slavery sparked new consideration and wariness of Black subjects and gave birth to persistent forms of anti-blackness. She works across periods and media to paint a picture of how cultural objects contribute to and bolster ideas about race. Her current book project, Sensing Blackness in the 19th Century Britain, explores how the language of sight, smell, sound, taste and touch were employed to preserve racial boundaries.