Tamara J. Walker

Tamara J. Walker specializes in the history of slavery, gender, and racial formation in Latin America, their legacies in the modern era, and the theme of global Black mobility. She is the author of Exquisite Slaves: Race, Clothing, and Status in Colonial Lima, which was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017 and won the 2018 Harriet Tubman Prize from the Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture. Her most recent book, Beyond the Shores: A History of African Americans Abroad (Crown, June 2023), was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. She is currently at work on two new research projects, one focused on race and visual culture in Latin America (under contract, University of Texas Press), and the other on the interconnected history of slavery and piracy. Her teaching covers these diverse thematic areas as well, and she offers courses on topics such as Afro-Latin American Art, Afro-Latin American History and Culture, Slavery & Freedom in Latin America, and Black Americans Abroad.

In addition to her scholarly pursuits, Tamara is the co-founder of The Wandering Scholar, a 501c3 nonprofit focused on making international travel accessible to high school students from underrepresented backgrounds. This work has, in turn, shaped her writing and creative projects: she has published essays about race, culture, and travel for Time, Smithsonian Magazine, Slate, The Guardian, The Root, and Columbia Global Reports; and co-hosts a podcast, Why We Wander, which covers all things travel.