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2026 Black Studies Conference

The 2026 Black Studies Conference titled “Missing and Murdered: A Transdisciplinary Conference on Black Women and Girls in Missouri and Beyond” features a series of panels, keynote addresses, and discussions focused on the crisis of missing and murdered Black women and girls, addressing topics from data politics to media representation and archival memory.

When: Oct. 15–16, 2026
Where: Memorial Union

Data Politics and State Systems: The politics of data related to missing and murdered Black women and girls, highlighting systemic rebuilding efforts, DNA reference sample challenges, and legal perspectives on equal protection.

Research Theories and Methods: Black feminist disappearance theory, police violence mapping, and the documentation and prevention of femicide in Canada, emphasizing theoretical and methodological approaches.

Media, Literary, and Social Norms: Media bias and underreporting, psychological analyses of policy application, literary representations of Black girlhood and sexual abuse, and the impact of social norms on violence against Black and Brown women in various contexts.

Memory, Intersectionality, and Digital Archives: Ancestral memory as a visibility praxis, historical erasure in legal cases, intersectional vulnerabilities and protections, trauma and collective care, and efforts toward creating digital repositories in memory of enslaved women.

Register now to be notified of programming and schedule updates.

Conference Schedule

Day 1: Thursday, October 15, 2026

Time	Title	Location
8:30–9:00 am	Registration and Welcome Coffee	Memorial Union (N214BC)
9:00–9:10 am	Welcome/Opening Remarks from: Conference Organizers Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences	Memorial Union (N214BC)
9:10–10:20 am	Panel 1 The Politics of Data on Missing and Murdered Black W&G Chair: Christina Carney Missing and Murdered African Women and Girls in Missouri Thome Addy, University of Missouri, Columbia This is Not a Data Problem: Rebuilding State Systems to Prevent the Disappearance and Murder of Black Women and Girls Alla Hassan, The Missing and Murdered Black Woman and Girls Office, Office of Justice, Minnesota Department of Public Safety DNA Reference Samples in Chicago Missing Persons Investigations: Understanding Barriers and Building Solutions Through Stakeholder Perspectives Abigail Elaine Houkes, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Equal Protection and the Unseen Crisis of Missing and Murdered Black Women Dr. Prema E. & Ragul O.V., School of Law, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chennai, India & High Court of Madras, Chennai, India	Memorial Union (N214BC)
10:20–10:30 am	Break
10:30–11:45 am	Panel 2 Theory and Methods of Researching Missing & Murdered W&G Chair: Daive Dunkley Black Feminist Disappearance Theory: Naming the Structural Erasure of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Breea C. Willingham – University of North Carolina Wilmington Investigating Invisible Encounters: Mapping the Margins of Police Violence Against Black Women Shannon Malone Gonzalez – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill From Institutional Toxicity to Thriving: Mapping Interconnected Pathways of Vulnerability and Protection for Black Woen and Girls Brittany Fatoma, University of Tennessee in Chattanooga Ain’t I A Woman? Documenting and Preventing the Femicide of Black Women and Girls in Canada Tope Adefarakan – University of Toronto, Canada	Memorial Union (N214BC)
11:45–11:55 am	Break
11:55 am–12:55 pm	Panel 3 Missing and Murdered in Illinois: A Film Screening and Conversation on Social Justice Art and Praxis Chair: Anna Fett Terrion L. Williamson, University of Illinois Chicago Latoya Flowers, Independent Filmmaker and Multimedia Creative	Memorial Union (N214BC)
12:55–2:00 pm	Lunch Break	Memorial Union (S304)
2:00–3:15 pm	Panel 4 Media Representations of Missing and Murdered W&G Chair: Christina Mislan Hidden in Plain Sight: Media Bias and the Dehumanization of Black Femicide Victims Mikhaila Lambert, University of North Carolina at Greensboro Underreported in the Media: A Textual Analysis of Discursive Patterns and Narrative Strategies in Coverage of Missing Black Women Lonyae Coulter, University of Missouri Policies Versus Practices: A Psychological Analysis of the Disconnect between Policies and Stated Protocols on Missing Girls and their Application within the Guyana Landscape Trichell A. William, Ministry of Education, Guyana Trauma, Neglect, and Collective Care: Reframing the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Dai’montre Yancy, New York University	Memorial Union (N214BC)
3:15–3:20 pm	Break
3:20–4:15 pm	Panel 5 Building the Nation’s First Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls: Government, Prevention, and Systems Accountability Chair: David Mitchell Alla Hassan, Violence Prevention and Training Coordinator; Minnesota Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Kaleena Burkes, Director, Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls Rebecca Rabb, MN Office of Justice Programs Deputy Directo	Memorial Union (N214BC)
4:15–4:20 pm	Break
4:20–5:20 pm	Keynote Address One and Closing Remarks Keynote Speaker: Cheryl Neely Closing Remarks: Conference Organizers	Memorial Union (N214BC)

Friday, October 16, 2026

Time	Title	Location
8:30–9:00 am	Registration and Welcome Coffee	Memorial Union (N214BC)
9:00–10:15 am	Panel 6 Social Norms, Systems, and the Crising of Missing and Murdered W&G Chair: Willie Mack When Healing is Corrupted: Traditional Medicine and the Crisis of Ritual Violence in Uganda Yahaya Hills Kagali Sekagya, PROMETRA Uganda Child Murders in Uganda: Why Social Norms Matter Victoria Flavia Namuggala, Makerere University The Haunting Tragedy of Adriana Younge: Disquieting Muses on Masculinity and Violence against Black and Brown Women Dennis Gill, University of Guyana	Memorial Union (N214BC)
10:15–10:25 am	Break
10:25–11:40 am	Panel 7 Archives, Memory, and Memorialization of Missing & Murdered W&G Chair: Mike Jirik Spiritual Sustenance and the Archive of the Unseen: Ancestral Rememory as a Praxis of Visibility for Missing and Murdered Black Mothers Tushabe Wa Tushabe, Widener University Missing, Murdered, and Erased: America and Celia the Radical Act of Ancestral Retrieval Traci Lizzette Wilson Kleekamp, Race Matters, Friends Race, Gender, and Sexual Violence: State of Missouri v. Celia, a Slave to the Present Romina Garcia, New York University “Raped to Death”: Sexual Violence, Institutional Failure, and the Erasure of Black Women and Girls in Colonial and Postcolonial Lagos Adewale Onagbesan, University of Lagos, Nigeria	Memorial Union (N214BC)
11:40–11:50 am	Break
11:50 am–1:00 pm	Panel 8 Literary Representations of Missing and Murdered W&G Chair: Donald Quist What is the Genre of Black and Missing? J. Brendan Shaw, Central State University Where Do Black Girls Go When They Go Missing? Daisy Coates, Independent Researcher We Keep Each Other Safe: Black Girlhood and Sexual Abuse in Young Adult Novels and Bildungsroman Nia Sampson, Washington University in St. Louis The Embattled Children of Jean Toomer's Cane Monica Briggs, University of Kansas	Memorial Union (N214BC)
1:00–2:00 pm	Lunch Break
2:00–3: pm	Panel 9 Lost and Forgotten: Toward a Digital Repository in Memory of Women Enslaved Chair: Carney Christina/Mamadou Badiane Kodjo Atiso, University of Kansas Jenna Kammer, University of Central Missouri Afolabi Ayotunde, University of Missouri	Memorial Union (N214BC)
3:00–3:10 pm	Final Closing Remarks by Conference Organizers	Memorial Union (N214BC)