Born in Portsmouth Virginia and raised in Vallejo CA, Xavier Livermon has always had a curiosity about the other-worlds available beyond the waterways that abutted his childhood. 

This led him to seek out and live an eclectic set of life and work experiences culled from diverse places as far afield as Accra, Ghana; Thaba Tseka, Lesotho; and Detroit, Michigan. 

After receiving his Ph.D. in African Diaspora Studies from UC Berkeley, Xavier worked at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wayne State University, and currently serves as Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Xavier’s writing and research is interested in how music relates to the social and how minoritized communities imagine freedom. 

His first book Kwaito Bodies: Remastering Space & Subjectivity in Post-apartheid South Africa was published in 2020 with Duke University Press.  He is also the co-editor along with Adrienne Davis and the BSE Collective of Black Sexual Economies: Race and Sex in a Culture of Capital published. He has published widely in the fields of African Popular Culture and African Queer Studies in journals including GLQ, Feminist Studies, and Black Music Research Journal. 

Esoteric film, tennis, and baking are some of Xavier’s favorite diversions from academic pursuits.