Daviana Fraser

Daviana Fraser is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Rhetoric & Political Culture area in the Department of Communication. Daviana received her M.A. in Communication Studies (in the area of Rhetoric) and her B.A. in Communication Studies and Africana Studies (with a minor in Journalism) from University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Daviana’s research interests include race, Black liberation movements, police brutality, gender, social justice, and intersectionality. Her work engages cultural studies, critical race theory, and radical judgment. Her master’s thesis focused on the progression of pro-Black social justice efforts through the comparative analysis of Black Lives Matter and the Black Power movement and the evaluation of each movement's approach to respectability politics, Black identity construction, leadership and the role of Black women.