Dallas Taylor Donnell

Dallas Donnell graduated from the University of Chicago in 2010 with honors distinction, with a degree in Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies. Prior to joining the American Studies program at the University of Maryland, Dallas spent eight years doing communications and organizing work for a variety of racial and social justice organizations and initiatives, including the Black Youth Project, Color Of Change, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, Free Press, and the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Broadly, Dallas’ academic interests include Black popular music and culture, politics, and social movements. His current research explores the use of nihilism as an aesthetic tool in Black art toward a larger critique of respectability, neoliberalism, and the politics of hope and change.