African and African Diaspora Studies

Ava Purkiss

Ava Purkiss was admitted to the African and African Diaspora Studies Program in spring 2007. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica and immigrated to Miami at the age of four. Seeking a liberal arts education, she attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA and majored in Psychology. Ava's interest in African Diaspora Studies was solidified in 2004 through the Crossing Borders Program offered at Dickinson College. Through this unique year long exchange program, she was able to spend a semester at the historically black university—Xavier University in New Orleans, study in Cameroon for a summer engaging in cultural studies with students from the University of Yaoundé, and continue her studies with students from Xavier University and Dillard University at Dickinson. Upon the completion of her undergraduate degree, she decided to dedicate the rest of her academic career to the interdisciplinary study of the Diaspora, with a focus on African American history and culture.  She therefore returned to Miami to pursue a degree in African and African Diaspora Studies. Her research interests include African American women's literature from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.  Ava's thesis examines the debilitating physical effects of labor and stress and the ways in which women combated these effects by employing health and wellness behaviors in African American literature.  Her future plans include pursuing a PhD in African American Studies and teaching at the college level.