Alumni

People who have graduated from the program

Nicole Tubman

Folklore

Joining the folklore program after receiving her BA in art with a minor in folklore and popular culture at USC, Nicole finds her academic interests lie in the study of the Afro-Cuban religion Santería (also referred to as Lucumí). Having first been introduced to the religion through an Afro-Cuban dance class during her sophomore year as an undergrad, Nicole has dedicated her time as an MA candidate to the topic. Carried over from her interests in creating identity-based artwork, she aims to focus her research on the results that participation in the practice of orisha dance, and its...

Brenda Umutoniwase

Folklore

Brenda Umutoniwase (MA 2023) joined the Folklore Program at UC Berkeley after finishing her undergraduate degree from Cornell University in International agriculture and rural development and Africana Studies. A member of Sistah Circle Collective, a radical black feminist Collective based and doing work in Rwanda, she comes into her research with this community in mind. Her primary interests lie in interrogating how gender and sexuality are in constant interaction with culture within colonial spaces in East Africa (what’s commonly referred to as the post-colonial African State). With...

Elaine Yau

Folklore

Elaine Y. Yau is Associate Curator of the Eli Leon Living Trust Collection of African American Quilts at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA); where she is curating an exhibition from Leon’s historic bequest of approximately 3,000 quilts. She co-curated Rosie Lee Tompkins: A Retrospective in 2020 with Larry Rinder, an exhibition deepened her long-standing engagement with art at the intersections of craft, vernacular culture, and modernism. She has published on artists such as Gertrude Morgan and Minnie Evans, and...