Eliana Mercedes

Eliana Mercedes is a second-year doctoral student within the Sociology department of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her work focuses on exploring Afro-diasporic spiritualities through a decolonial Black feminist lens. Her research is rooted within decolonial studies and crosses the fields of sociology, race studies, religious studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Her current research aims to broadly challenge the stigmatized position of Afro-diasporic religious traditions (specifically, Afro Dominican spiritual practices (i.e., La 21 División de Misterios)), reframing them as critical to addressing coloniality. To challenge the stigmatized position of Afro Dominican spiritual practices, her theoretical project investigates the contribution of Black Dominican women’s African-based spiritual practices (spiritualities (cosmologies, ethics, aesthetics, rituals, relations) to decolonial critique (theory and politics).