Taharka Anderson is a scholar-activist from Long Beach, CA, with over a decade of experience advancing social and educational justice. He holds a Master of Arts in Education, with a focus on Social & Cultural Analysis of Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from California State University, Long Beach. His work as a scholar, educator, organizer, and trainer has shaped a broad and interdisciplinary background. He is a sixth-year doctoral candidate in African & African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), where his research focuses on theories of race and ethnicity, Black education, the intersections of race, class, and gender in education, Black men and boys’ health and vulnerabilities, and school discipline and criminalization. He is currently writing his phenomenological dissertation, which historicizes Black masculinity within Western patriarchal systems and draws on interviews with Black males in a university men’s support group at a PWI to retrospectively examine how they experienced, interpreted, and navigated punitive and exclusionary school discipline during K–12. Notably, he was awarded UT’s prestigious Graduate School Continuing Fellowship to support the completion of his doctoral journey.

Over the past nine years, he has gained extensive and diverse research experience collaborating with scholars and university administrators across Texas, Indiana, and California. At UT, he has served as a graduate researcher for the Initiative for Students as Partners in Research and Education, a graduate scholar for Project M.A.L.E.S., and a graduate student mentor for the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis. Taharka has additionally been a graduate research consultant and assistant on projects examining artificial intelligence in higher education, the politics of Texas education, Black male introversion, the teaching of Texas slavery, and Black male education.

During his doctoral studies, Taharka has gained extensive teaching and leadership experience, including guest lecturing on the criminalization of Black children in schools and society in graduate-level Education, Sociology, and Human Development courses at R1 and R2 institutions. He has also served as a graduate teaching assistant and grader in Black Studies and Sociology courses, employing critical pedagogies and collaborative learning strategies to strengthen students’ writing, research, critical thinking, and leadership skills. He was also formerly appointed as the graduate student representative for the African & African Diaspora Studies department and has been the graduate student representative for the Black Studies Graduate Student Organization at UT.

Anthropology and Education Quarterly features Taharka's inaugural scholarly publication—a book review of Derron Wallace’s The Culture Trap: Ethnic Expectations and Unequal Schooling for Black Youth. He currently has co-authored manuscripts under review in the following academic journals: Qualitative Inquiry, Race, Ethnicity and Education, and International Journal for Students as Partners.

He has presented his research at esteemed research conferences including those hosted by the American Education Research Association, American Anthropological Association, Critical Race Studies in Education Association, and Decoding the Disciplines. As a scholar-activist, Taharka has garnered recognition from influential platforms such as the Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color, Education Writers Association, EdSource, and USC Rossier. His engagements extend to various college, community, and non-profit organizations.

Blending his personal and professional commitments to enhancing public understanding and access to scholarly research, Taharka launched Your Neighborhood Scholar in 2020. This virtual classroom and online learning community aims to disseminate neighborhood narratives, research, and resources, contributing to justice advancement in Black communities. Additionally, Taharka serves as the Interim Political Director for the Afrikan Black Coalition (ABC), which is the foremost organization in California committed to the training and development of Black student leaders within four-year universities.

In his previous role as a Restorative Justice Strategist & Trainer at the California Conference for Equality & Justice (CCEJ), Taharka served as a Restorative Justice practitioner at an alternative high school for three years and trained hundreds of students, teachers, administrators, and community organizers throughout California in the theories and practices of Restorative Justice.

During his master's degree pursuit, he co-founded and served as the Co-Chair of KING II KING, an autonomous student-led Black men’s support group within the Black Student Union at California State University, Long Beach. Additionally, while completing his bachelor’s degree, he held leadership roles as the President of the Student African American Brotherhood and concluded his undergraduate tenure as the President of CSULB’s Black Student Union.

Check out Taharka’s Curriculum Vitae (CV) - A record of his academic, organizational, and community accomplishments.

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