Xavier Durham
Read Xavier's Human Rights Commentary, titled "Marielle Franco and the Brazilian Necropolis: Assassination and After Lives"
Xavier Durham is a senior majoring in Sociology, with departmental honors, and minoring in African and African Diaspora Studies. In addition to being a McNair Scholar, he is also a Rapoport-King Honors Scholar, Rapoport Service Scholar and Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. He has studied Black motherhood and greater Afro-Brazilian liberation movements abroad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as well as conducted an independent research project on the modern Brazilian prison and its legacy of police brutality at Princeton University. He is currently writing an honors thesis that examines the changing role of the Brazilian state and private markets in the proliferation and dispensing of violence and coercion through the increased consumption of surveillance technology and private policing. Outside of academics, Xavier is a huge fan of the arts and produced the 37th Annual Madrigal Dinner, an event composed of a five-act student-written play, four-course meal, three choir performances, and cast improvisation. Following graduation, Xavier plans to pursue a PhD in Sociology and achieve his career goal of becoming a professor.