Session 1 - Physical and Human Geography
Principal speaker: Dr. Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson
A native of Ghana who spent part of his childhood in Great Britain and who has made the United States his home for many decades, Dr. Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson has personally and professionally traced the history of the Triangular Trade by uncovering and bringing to public notice its geographical manifestations. He holds a B.A. in Geography from the University of Ghana, an MLA in Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia, and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Emory University. For nearly two decades he has served as the Principal Landscape Architect for Eden Garden Design Associates in Buford and Atlanta, Georgia.Dr. DeGraft-Hanson’s research explores intersections of African American history, culture, and literature in colonial and antebellum slavery in the American South. His focus is on what he terms “Hidden Landscapes of Slavery,”—places and spaces, like some former plantations and slave auction sites in the American South, that are unmarked and without commemoration. He researches historical and contemporary maps and texts for spatial, architectural and cultural information to facilitate remapping and re-imaging said landscapes, to recreate these as virtual sites that allow commemorative attention towards the former enslaved persons who inhabited these places.
Dr. Degraft-Hanson has won particular recognition for bringing to light long-forgotten details of the “Weeping Time,” the largest slave sale in recorded American history, which took place in Savannah on March 2-3, 1859. Equally notable has been his research on the Butler Island Plantation in Georgia and McLeod Plantation in South Carolina. From architectural materials and techniques to the very names in neglected cemeteries, he has devoted his life to reading landscapes to map the history of enslaved Africans and their descendants.
Dr. Nicholaus Nelson-Goedert
The recipient of a doctorate in sociology from Emory University, Dr. Nicholaus Nelson-Goedert currently serves on the faculty of Miami-Dade College. His commitment to social justice extends far beyond the classroom: as a former NAACP NextGen Fellow, he has consistently sought to empower youth voices. During his tenure on National PTA’s Board of Directors (2008-2011), he chaired the Youth Involvement Committee. Dr. Nelson-Goedert currently sits as Chair of Florida PTA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Committee, dedicating himself to fulfilling the PTA mission: “To make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.”Dr. Kiran Jayaram
Dr. Kiran Jayaram, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Florida, describes his life as a study in crossing borders. The child of rural migrants, he was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but grew up across the state line in Kansas. There he combined his love for heritage dishes like rice and yogurt with an equal passion for mid-America pastimes like riding go-carts. His education is similarly hybrid: private and public elementary schools, Jesuit and public high schools, Ivy League and public universities.Dr. Jayaram’s research, focusing on the anthropology of education, political economy and migration/mobility, likewise explores linguistic, cultural and economic boundaries. Co-founder in 2010 of Transnational Hispaniola, he has extensive knowledge of this island shared by two nations: the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Since 2019, he has been working on the project of “Island Anthropologies” that considers the past, present, and future of anthropologies on Hispaniola.