Sha' Kurra Evans
Graduate Student
Sociology
Contact
- Building & Room:
- 4075 BSB
CV Download:
About
Previous degrees:
B.A. in Sociology with a minor in African and African American Studies from Iowa State University
Research interests:
Sha’ Kurra L. Evans is an Iowa native, educator, and doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois Chicago, specializing in Black feminist epistemology, phenomenology, and intersectional identity construction. Her scholarship examines how Black women navigate and negotiate systemic oppression, bodily autonomy, and self-definition through their everyday practices. Her dissertation, ‘Hair Stories: A Black Feminist Study of Identity and Womanhood’, centers Black women’s everyday perspectives and lived experiences as they navigate identity construction through the lens of their hair. By fusing Black Feminist Thought (BFT) with phenomenology, this project investigates how hair serves as a site of political resistance, cultural expression, and bodily socialization. Her project utilizes qualitative narrative analysis and semi-structured interviews. It centers the voices of Black women to capture the essence of everyday grooming practices, societal microaggressions, and internal transformations. Ultimately, this research disrupts Eurocentric standards of beauty and expands sociological frameworks of embodiment, intersectionality, and self-actualization.