Naimah Petigny

2026-2027 Faculty Fellow, Teaching & Learning Lab
Schiller Family Assistant Professorship in Race in Art and Design Assistant Professor of Literary Arts and Studies

Naimah Zulmadelle Pétigny is a Black feminist scholar, dancer and educator. As an assistant professor in the Literary Arts and Studies department, she holds a Schiller Family Assistant Professorship in Race in Art and Design.

Naimah’s work is shaped by her experiences as a youth organizer, racial justice facilitator, and dancer in professional and community-based ensembles. Her research and writing exist at the intersections of Black feminist theory and Performance Studies, and center questions of gender, pastness, loss, and erotics. Pétigny’s work has been published in Commoning Ethnography, The Walker Art Center Magazine, Agitate! Unsettling Knowledges Journal, Routledge International Handbook of Gender and Feminist Geographies, and Cultural Studies. Professionally, Naimah’s worked as an social equity researcher and consultant across government, higher education, arts-based organizations, and the nonprofit sector.

Naimah’s approaches to teaching and learning are grounded in her deep appreciation of difference, love of creative structures, and dedication to liberatory education. Her pedagogy remains deeply attuned to the cultural and political foundations of her fields of  Black Studies and Feminist Studies. Thus, as an educator, she centers lived experience and invests in the transformation of systems of oppression.  

Book an appointment with Naimah to talk about: SEI course tagging, writing pedagogies, embodied learning, strengthening facilitation skills, Black Studies and Feminist Studies epistemologies, 1st year student learning, and navigating your positionality as an instructor.