Naminata Diabate is an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Cornell University. She is a scholar of trans-African and black diaspora studies . Her monograph, Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa (Duke 2020), invites theoretical and conceptional reflection on how protest nudity functions as a locus of contestation and subjugation. The book was awarded the African Studies Association (ASA) 2021 Best Book Prize and the African Literature Association (ALA) 2022 First Book Award.