Our Faculty

Erica Lorraine Williams joined the department of sociology and anthropology as an assistant professor in 2009. She completed her doctorate in cultural and social anthropology from Stanford University in January 2010.

She earned her master's in cultural anthropology from Stanford in 2005, and her bachelor's in anthropology and Africana studies from New York University in 2002.

Her dissertation, "Anxious Pleasures: Race and the Sexual Economies of Transnational Tourism in Salvador, Brazil," is an ethnography of the sexual and cultural politics of the tourism industry in Salvador, Bahia.

Her research focuses on the relationships between "sex tourism" and the marketing of an eroticized Afro-Brazilian culture as a tourist commodity in Salvador.

Her teaching interests include: Introduction to Anthropology, Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Gender, Anthropology of Globalization; Anthropology of Latin America; and Race, Erotics and Globalization She also teaches African Diaspora and the World.

Book Links
University of Illinois Press: Sex Tourism in Bahia
Interview on Left of Black
Lecture at Duke

Book
2013    Sex Tourism in Bahia: Ambiguous Entanglements. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, Series: National Women’s Studies Association/University of Illinois Press First Book Prize. 

Journal Articles
2013    “Geographies of Blackness, Sex Work, and Exclusion in the Tourist Districts of Salvador, Brazil.” Gender, Place, Culture: A Feminist Journal of Geography. May.

2013    “Women’s Studies and Sexuality Studies at HBCUs: The Audre Lordre Project at Spelman College.” Forum: W/G/S Studies Women’s Studies and Sexuality Studies in Conversation. Feminist Studies 39, no. 2. October.

Book Chapters
2015   “Mucamas and Mulatas: Black Brazilian Feminisms, Representations, and Ethnography.” In Transatlantic Feminisms: Women and Gender Studies in Africa and the African Diaspora. Eds. Akosua Ampofo, Cheryl Rodriguez, Dzodzi Tsikata. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

2014    “Feminist Tensions: Race, Sex Work, and Women’s Activism in Bahia.” In Taking Risks: Feminist Stories of Social Justice Research in the Americas. Edited by Julie Shayne. Albany, NY: SUNY Press; Praxis: Theory in Action series.

2011    "Moral Panics and Racialized Sexuality: “Sex Tourism,” “Trafficking” and the Limits of Transnational Mobility in Bahia." In Policing Pleasure: Global Reflections on Sex Work and Public Policy. Edited by Patty Kelly and Susan Dewey. New York: New York University Press.

Entries and Book Reviews
2015    Biographical entries for “Ochy Curiel,” “Dandara dos Palmares,” “Mãe Hilda Jitolu,” and Laudelina Campos Melo.” Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography. Edited by Robert Repino. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Franklin W. Knight, Editors-in-Chief. New York: Oxford University Press. Forthcoming.

2014    Review of Transnational Desires: Brazilian Erotic Dancers in New York. Suzana Maia. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2012. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. Volume 19, Issue no. 2, July.

2012    "Sex Tourism," “Romance Tourism,” and “Prostitution/Sex Work” (3 entries).  Encyclopedia of Globalization. Edited by George Ritzer. Wiley-Blackwell. In Print.

2012    Review of Revolutionizing Romance: Interracial Couples in Contemporary Cuba. Nadine Fernandez. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press 2010. Association for Feminist Anthropology online journal, December.

2012    Review of Gendered Citizenships: Transnational Perspectives on Knowledge Production, Political Activism, and Culture. Kia Caldwell, et. al., eds. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Association for Feminist Anthropology journal, Jan.

2011    Review of The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic. By Steven Gregory. Berkeley: UC Press, 2007. Transforming Anthropology. 20 (1) April.

2011    Review of Economies of Desire: Sex and Tourism in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. By Amalia Cabezas. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009. Wagadu: Journal of Transnational Women and Gender Studies. Vol. 9 Spring.

Public Scholarship (Selected)
2014    “The Place of Afro-Brazilian Women in the World Cup.” Co-written with Melissa Creary. Huffington Post. Jun. 17. 

2014    “Q&A with Sex Tourism in Bahia author Erica Lorraine Williams." University of Illinois Press website.

2013    “Madiba in Palestine.” Co-written with Robin D.G. Kelley. Counterpunch. Dec. 10.

2013    “Somebody Confiscated my FieldNotes: Reflections on Occupied Palestine.” The Feminist Wire. Jun. 24. 

2012    “A Black Woman’s Self-Care Manifesto.” Part of the Black Academic Women’s Health series. The Feminist Wire. Nov. 5.

2010    “Blonde Beauties and Black Booties: Persisting Racial Hierarchies in Brazil.” Jun. 11.