Shemariah J. Arki

About Shemariah J. Arki

Shemariah J. Arki identifies as an educator, an activist and an organizer. Currently serving as the interim director of the center for pan African culture and as an instructor in the department of Pan African Studies at Kent State University, Dr. Arki also gets to be the founder and program director for the Ellipsis Institute for Womxn of Color in the Academy. She is an intersectional feminist scholar with expert knowledge and skills to develop, implement, facilitate and evaluate curricula that promote institutional equity, communication, and access for traditionally marginalized students and families. Shemariah received her BBA and MEd from the American Intercontinental University and her EdD from Northeastern University. Dr. Arki’s dissertation research centers the voices of northeast Ohio youth as they respond to hate, particularly in the wake of #BlackLivesMatter.As an auto/ethnographic researcher and creative non-fiction writer, her work centers cultural epistemologies and the construction of a #BlackCommaFeminist pedagogy. Shemariah is one of six editors for the forthcoming textbook, Teaching Beautiful Brilliant Black Girls, curated to position classrooms as places of radical transformation and to amplify the voices of the Black girls who inhabit them. Forthcoming in spring 2021, her book Gender and Sexualities in Ghanaian Societies, which chronicles her ‘year of return journey\' Ghana and being enstooled as Queen Mother Bonyi Bofor Akosua Kalesea of the Igbagba lineage, in the village of Akpafu Todzi in the Oti region of Ghana. Shemariah also serves outside the academy as the Founder and Lead Experience Curator for Sankofa Circle International, where she engages creative entrepreneurs through a variety of channels with one goal: lift as you climb. Shemariah also serves on the board of Shooting Without Bullets. Most recently, Shemariah’s work is has been recognized by Case Western Reserve University (2020 Excellence in Teaching Award; 2019 Diversity Collaboration Excellence Award), Who’s Who in Black Cleveland (20••••19), Kaleidoscope’s 40 under 40 Club and by the Kiwanis Club at High Tech Academy. A proud Clevelander and mom of Solomon Tafari and Malcom Saadiq, Shemariah enjoys traveling, yoga and creating memories with her family.

Experience

1. Founder Program Director

   Kent State University

   Jan 2018 — Present · Cleveland/Akron, OH, US

Education

• American InterContinental University

  Bachelor of Business Administration - BBA

• American InterContinental University

  Master of Education - MEd

• Northeastern University

  Doctor of Education - EdD