Maria E. Hamilton Abegunde, Ph.D., is a Memory Keeper, poet, ancestral priest in the Yoruba Orisa tradition, healing facilitator, and doula. She is the founding director of The Graduate Mentoring Center and a faculty member in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies. Her research and creative works are grounded in contemplative practices and respectfully approach the Earth and human bodies as sites of memory, and always with the understanding that memory never dies, is subversive, and can be recovered to transform transgenerational trauma and pain into peace and power. Through Spirit & Place (IUPUI), she is a Civic Reflections trainer, a Powerful Conversations on Race facilitator, and will lead their Racial Trauma and Healing series. Her most recent works address anti-Black racism and violence, genocide, sexual violence, and healing. Abegunde joined the Office of Diversity and Inclusion as a Faculty Fellow in January 2021. She seeks to support deep dialogue and listening among members of the IU community to cultivate a more compassionate and inclusive society.
