Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman is an associate professor of sociology and the Center of African and African American Studies (CAAAS) at Rice University. Her research and teaching explore how global anti-Blackness shapes the structural position and affective experiences of Afro-Latin Americans, Afro-Latinxs, and African Americans with a focus on Black women and families. She is the author of two multiple award-winning books, The Color of Love (University of Texas) and Second-Class Daughters (Cambridge University Press) that are based on her extensive ethnographic research in Brazil.

Hordge-Freeman’s transnational research has been published widely in academic journals in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Additionally, she has co-edited two collections, Race and the Politics of Knowledge Production (with Gladys Mitchell-Walthour) and Ciudadanías invisibles (with Mariela Noles Cotito), which include critical contributions from researchers across the African Diasporic that explore intersectional oppression, identity/representation, and transnational solidarity.

At Rice, Hordge-Freeman has a joint appointment in CAAAS which will further support her interdisciplinary interests. In 2023, she launched the Imagine Blackness AI project and exhibition with artist and her husband, McArthur Freeman. She is currently co-directing a documentary project, “Journey Towards Justice,” that chronicles the impact of immersive museum experiences on students’ emotional experiences, knowledge, and understanding of racial justice.