Rebekah Simcha Otto
Graduate Student , The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Rebekah Simcha Otto (She/her), is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, focusing on the intersections of gender-based violence, Blackness, and place, particularly in her former home-state of Alaska. She explores Black survivorhoods and challenges socio-geographic assumptions about where Black bodies can and cannot exist. She incorporates nature, creative methods, and diverse lived experiences into her work to center Black resistance and healing in the face of pervasive cultures of violence. Rebekah graduated with her BS in English in 2018, her MA in Critical Ethnic Studies in 2022 and received a Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies from DePaul University in 2022.