Xavier Livermon

Associate Professor

Biography

Born in Portsmouth Virginia and raised in Vallejo CA, Xavier Livermon has always had a curiosity about the other-worlds available beyond the waterways that abutted his childhood. This led him to seek out and live an eclectic set of life and work experiences culled from diverse places as far afield as Accra, Ghana; Thaba Tseka, Lesotho; and Detroit, Michigan.

After receiving his Ph.D. in African Diaspora Studies from UC Berkeley, Xavier worked at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wayne State University, University of Texas at Austin, and currently serves as Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Toronto. Xavier’s writing and research is interested in how music relates to the social and how minoritized communities imagine freedom.

His first book Kwaito Bodies: Remastering Space & Subjectivity in Post-apartheid South Africa was published in 2020 with Duke University Press. He is also the co-editor along with Adrienne Davis and the BSE Collective of Black Sexual Economies: Race and Sex in a Culture of Capital published. He has published widely in the fields of African Popular Culture and African Queer Studies in journals including GLQ, Feminist Studies, and Black Music Research Journal.

Esoteric film, tennis, and baking are some of Xavier’s favourite diversions from academic pursuits.

Education

PhD, UC Berkeley

Selected Works

Single Authored Books

Livermon, X. (2020). Kwaito Bodies: Remastering Space and Subjectivity in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Duke University Press

Chapter in Books

Miller-Young, M., & Livermon, X. (2019). Black stud white desire: Black masculinity in cuckold pornography and sex work.” In A. D. Davis & the BSE Collective (Eds.) Black sexual economies: Race and sex in a culture of capital University of Illinois Press. 37-36.

Livermon, X. (2018). Colonialism and African Sexualities. In: Shanguhyia, M., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Colonial and Postcolonial History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York

Refereed Journal Articles

Collins-White, M. D., Cruz, A., Hernandez, J., Livermon, X., Story, K., & Nash, J. (2016). Disruptions in Respectability: A Roundtable Discussion. Souls, 18(2–4), 463–475.

Packman, J., & Livermon, X. (2014). Editor’s note: Cultural industries and African diaspora. Black Music Research Journal, 34(1), v–x.

Livermon, X. (2014). “Si-ghetto fabulous” (“We are ghetto fabulous”): Kwaito musical performance and consumption in post-apartheid South Africa. Black Music Research Journal, 34(2), 285–303.

Livermon, X. (2012). Queer(y)ing freedom: Black queer visibilities in post-apartheid South Africa. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 18(2–3), 297–323.

Livermon, X. (2012). Representations of Sophiatown in kwaito music: Mafikizolo and musical memory. In T. Falola & T. Fleming (Eds.), Music, performance, and African identities (pp. 169–190). Routledge.

Livermon, X. (2008). Measuring gay rights in post-apartheid South Africa. Corpus, 6(1), 100–107.

Reports

Bailey, M. M., Livermon, X., Thompson, J., Kraus, G. A., Dieter, K. E., & Battani, P. (2010). HIV (STDs, STIs, and viral hepatitis) prevention and men who have sex with men (MSM) needs assessment. Indiana State Department of Health.

Teaching

Undergraduate Courses:

WGS160: Introduction to Women and Gender Studies

WGS360: Making Knowledge in a World that Matters

WGS435: Black Queer Film