Taharka Anderson

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT TAHARKA ANDERSON

Taharka Anderson is a scholar-activist from Long Beach, CA, with over a decade of experience dedicated to supporting social and educational justice. His roles as a scholar, educator, organizer, and trainer have shaped his extensive background. As a 5th-year doctoral candidate in African & African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), his research generally concerns: Black Studies; Black Education History & Philosophy; Black Men and Boys’ Health and Vulnerabilities; School Discipline and Carcerality. He is currently working on his phenomenological dissertation, which historicizes Black masculinity within Western patriarchal social systems and explores how college-aged Black males experienced, made sense of, and navigated punitive and exclusionary discipline in U.S. schools. His project also explores the extent to which those past experiences shape their current beliefs and behavior as Black men. Over the past nine years, he has accrued diverse research experience working with scholars and collegiate administrators in Texas, Indiana, and California. While at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), he currently serves as a Graduate Student Mentor for the College of Liberal Arts Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program under the supervision of the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis. He is also a Graduate Assistant for UT’s Center for Teaching & Learning. Taharka has additionally been a Graduate Research Assistant on projects concerning the politics of Texas education, Black male introversion, the teaching of Texas slavery, and Black male education.During his doctoral studies, Taharka has gained a wealth of teaching and leadership experience. Since 2021, he has been a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Grader for UT’s dynamic student population in courses such as Numbering Race, Sociology of Education, Promise & Perils of U.S. Public Education, and Education in Contemporary Black America. As a primary support for the scholarly growth of students, in these roles, Taharka used critical pedagogies and collaborative learning to enhance students’ writing, research, and critical thinking abilities. He was also appointed by the African & African Diaspora Studies Department to serve as their Graduate Student Representative on UT\'s College of Liberal Arts Graduate Student Advisory Council and has been the Graduate Student Representative for the Black Studies Graduate Student Organization.