Alexis Ligon Holloway is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Critical Race and Political Economy department at Mount Holyoke College. She finished her PhD in Cultural Anthropology PhD at Duke University, where she also earned certificates in African and African American Studies and in College Teaching, along with the Dean’s Graduate Fellowship and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Stemming from personal experience, Holloway’s research explores how the mechanisms of white supremacy operate in classical music performance, examining how racial and aesthetic hierarchies position Black bodies as aberrant in these spaces. Specifically, her research centers on the resilience and resistance that Black musicians display in the face of racism in classical music pedagogy and performance.

As a filmmaker, she aims to produce a series of documentary shorts that depict the fabrics of everyday Black talent in classical music spaces, performing the visual, sonic, and political work of positioning Black musicians center-stage. As a member of the Association of Black Anthropologist’s executive board, Holloway is passionate about working against gate keeping practices that discourage Black and other minoritized students from feeling welcomed and valued. Holloway also serves as a steering committee member for the Black Orchestral Network and writes for Afroclassical, a Black classical music blog.