Additional Appointments
Affiliate Faculty, African Studies Program Affiliate Faculty, Banks Center for Educational Justice
Research Interests
Lakeya (Omogun) Afolalu
Lakeya Afolalu, Ph.D., is a scholar of Language, Literacy, and Culture who specializes in the intersections of immigration, race, and identity. Raised between her Nigerian and African American cultures, her hybrid identity is reflected in her scholarship, which focuses on African immigrant youth. She draws from her lived experiences, the wisdom of her former middle school students, and the arts to transform static concepts about identity.
Her research specifically explores the role of multilingualism, literacy, including digital literacies, in the identity formations of Nigerian immigrant and transnational youth across home, school, and digital spaces. She pays particular attention to how the United States' system of racialization and racial categories influences the construction and negotiation of identities. Her interdisciplinary scholarship emphasizes the rich diversity within Black youth identities, languages, and literacies.
Her academic scholarship has appeared in journals such as Teachers College Record and Journal of Literacy Research. It has also been supported by the National Council of Teachers of English and the American Educational Research Association. Her public scholarship has been featured in various publications, including TEDx, ESSENCE Magazine, and NPR Radio. She advocates for the identities and well-being of youth of color through community-based literacy, arts education, and mentorship.
Multimedia
- Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Fellowship (ECEOC), National Council of Teachers of English (2024 – 2026)
- Resilience and Compassion SEED Grant, University of Washington Resilience Lab and Campus Sustainability Fund (2024 - 2025)
- Scholars of Color Transitioning into Academic Research Institutions Fellow (STAR), Literacy Research Association (2022 – 2024)
- Outstanding Dissertation Award, Bilingual Education Research SIG, American Educational Research Association (2022)
- Cultivating New Voices among Scholars of Color Fellow (CNV), National Council of Teachers of English (2020 – 2022)
- Texas New Scholars Fellowship, Department of Teaching & Curriculum, The University of Texas at Austin (2016 – 2019)
(Formerly known as "Omogun". If you'd like to read a copy and/or need access, email me: lafolalu@uw.edu)
- Afolalu, L. (2024). I'm Still Nigerian: Navigating Race Through Digital Literacies. Journal of Literacy Research, 56(3).
- Afolalu, L. (2024). Opening Space to Participate: One Nigerian Girl’s Use of Visual Arts to Navigate School-Based Linguistic Discrimination. In Watson, VM., Knight-Manuel, M. & Smith, P. (Eds.), Educating African Immigrant Youth: Schooling & Civic Engagement in K-12 Schools, Teachers College Press.
- Omogun, L. & Skerrett, A. (2021). From Haiti to Detroit Through Black Immigrant Languages and Literacies. Journal of Literacy Research, 53(3), 406-429.
- Omogun, L. (2021). Counterstories: Reimagining Youth In Multiethnic Short Story Anthologies [Review of the Book Black Enough: Stories Of Being Young & Black in America edited by I. Zoboi]. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 64(5).
- Johnston, K., Omogun, L. & Lee, C. (2021). From New York City to the World: Examining Critical Global Literacies in an English Language Arts Classroom. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 35(2), 215-230.
- Skerrett, A. & Omogun, L. (2020) When Racial, Transnational, and Immigrant Identities Meet: Black Youth of Caribbean Origin Speak. Teachers College Record, 122(13).
- Omogun, L. (2018). Immigrant Student Identities In Literacy Spaces. Texas Education Review, 6(2), 70-81.
