Kumi Silva is an associate professor in the Department of Communication within the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. She studies how affective relationships — especially calls to and of love — animate legal, social, and political practices that are cruel and alienating.

Q: How did you discover your specific field of study?

A: By accident! As an undergraduate, I focused on media production and graphic design and had planned on going into advertising after graduation. But in my junior and senior year I took two classes: one in women’s studies and another in Asian American studies that had such a deep impact that I decided to pursue graduate school with a focus in identity and cultural studies.

Those two classes also significantly shaped my commitments to social justice and equity on an intellectual level. I grew up during civil war and unrest, first in Sri Lanka, and then Liberia in the 1980s, and what I was reading about race, gender, and power in those classes gave me the initial theoretical tools and vocabulary to understand the structures, both popular and political, that I engage with even now.

Q: Academics are problem-solvers. Describe a research challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it.

A: Writing my book, “Brown Threat.” It was not based on my dissertation research — and that is unusual for first books, especially in the humanities. I started thinking and writing about identification right after 9/11 to put on paper my own reality based on all that was unfolding at that time. Once the dissertation was complete, I realized that I wanted to turn those ideas into my first book, rather than my dissertation. Given this, I had to teach myself how to write a book from scratch, without the infrastructure of graduate school.

It was really challenging at times because I didn’t have an advisor to reach out to or a cohort of peers to discuss ideas. And I also had to continuously update the examples as I was working through the project because there was, and is, so much going on. The subject matter is hardly joyful, and at times I really had to push myself to read the new stories and policies that were unfolding. It was daunting but I just kept at it consistently — not always in huge leaps — until it was done.

Q: Describe your research in five words.

A: Love and hate are intertwined.

Q: Who or what inspires you? Why?

A: The individuals and groups that speak truth to power. Their perseverance and commitment to caring for the most vulnerable amongst us is something that I find inspiring and necessary.

Q: If you could pursue any other career, what would it be and why?

A: I’d want to be in an industry where I could feed people!