Chelsey Carter

Chelsey Carter is a doctoral candidate in anthropology and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. She is also a Masters of Public Health candidate at the George Warren School of Social Work. Prior to the onset of her doctoral studies, Chelsey worked with various non-profit and for profit organizations around the United States. Her research examines the intersections of race, class, gender, and chronic illness in the U.S. Her forthcoming project will examine how black people with neuromuscular diseases (like ALS) navigate healthcare spaces and experience care by healthcare institutions in post Ferguson St. Louis. Her work also considers how anti-black racism stifles health and further promotes health inequities for black people. She received her Bachelor’s in Anthropology with high honors and a minor in Spanish from Emory University, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. She also earned her Master’s in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Melinda Gonzalez

Melinda Gonzalez is a PhD student in Anthropology at Louisiana State University.  Melinda’s dissertation research focuses on the role of music, poetry, and verbal art in community organizing across the Puerto Rican Diaspora in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She is a research assistant working on questions of uncertainty and environmental change through a Board of Regents Grant held by Dr. Micha Rahder in Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala for the Maya Forest Futures Project.   She holds a Master’s degree from Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey in Anthropology and obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Barnard College, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow.