Dive into the Ecosystem: Cyntoya McCall
The K4BL member tells us about her passion for educating about the African diaspora in South America, her love for champeta music, and her secret talent as a roller skater!
Introduce yourself. Are you a student, postdoc, faculty? With what institution? What do you do with LifexCode?
My name is Cyntoya McCall, I am from Niles, Michigan, and I am a second-year MA student in the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University. My research focuses on the formation and expressions of Black identities in Latin America.
I am the Community Engagement fellow / Co-Project Manager for Keywords for Black Louisiana, which is a digital project founded in 2020 and directed by Dr. Jessica Johnson that builds on the work of Black feminist scholars, historians, and public intellectuals to center Black and Indigenous life in French and Spanish colonial archives, specifically from the Louisiana Colonial Documents Digitization Project. Our team of researchers curates an online collection of 18th-century French and Spanish Louisiana manuscripts, which we transcribe and translate. These documents offer valuable insights into the experiences of both enslaved and free people of African descent.
We engage with stories of resistance, survival, family, labor, and the many complexities of Black life in the past. This project not only centers Black lives but also fosters spaces of solidarity, amplifies historically marginalized voices, and bridges the gap between communities and public history.
Within the project, there are several teams: the language team, digital team, editorial team, and the Community Ethics and Accountability Team. My own involvement lies in the latter as the Community Engagement Fellow: I connect the project with the local community in New Orleans. Because we prioritize community engagement and strive to cultivate ethical and caring relationships with our community partners, we are intentional about how we collaborate. We center their knowledge, and this requires authentic relationship-building, honesty, and clear communication. To ensure we uphold these values, we have a Community Ethics and Accountability Team. This team includes representatives from Xavier University in Louisiana, Dillard University, and Tulane University. With the assistance of the Community Ethics and Accountability Team, we host a highly successful workshop, our Black History in Louisiana Summer Workshop, on Black history in Louisiana, featuring sixteen Black public historians. Additionally, in response to community demand and suggestions from the community team, we organize the spring meeting of the KCCAB (Keywords Community Circle & Advisory Board).
How long have you been involved with LifexCode? What inspired you to join?
I’ve been involved with K4BL since August 2024, but I was already familiar with the project through friends and professors who were part of it. I attended a few meetings before officially joining. I was inspired to get involved because of the meaningful work we do in centering Black stories—stories that are often untold, overlooked, or inaccessible.
Before coming to New Orleans, I lived in Colombia for almost a decade, and prior to that, I spent time in Black communities in Ecuador. After years of teaching and integrating Black Latine narratives into high school Spanish classes in predominantly Black cities in the U.S., working with college students, and organizing with Black communities in Colombia, I arrived in New Orleans with the same passions and goals. My work with Keywords for Black Louisiana aligns closely with this mission; it focuses on a different population within the African diaspora, but the purpose remains the same.
How did you end up in Colombia? Can you tell us more about what you were doing there?
Thank you for asking! In 2009, I went to Ecuador to study Spanish and it was an immersive experience. I was a Spanish (Secondary Education) major and sociology minor, and at the time, it was strongly recommended that I studied abroad. However, who I was then is not who I am now and at that stage in my life, leaving the U.S. to study abroad was not something I had planned to do. I just wanted to go back to my small community in Niles, Michigan and teach high school. But, once I got to Ecuador, I fell in love with the experience of being in a Spanish speaking country. While there, I learned more about the African Diaspora in Latin America, including the history and culture of Black Ecuadorians. I was a little frustrated with my schooling experience because I had only learned about Spain and Mexico in my Spanish classes. This experience motivated me to improve my Spanish with hopes of building relationships with other African descendants who shared my ancestral place of origin but spoke a different native language. So, I developed a passion for learning about and connecting communities across the African diaspora, particularly in Latin America.
After living in Ecuador, I went to Colombia because I’d learned that Colombia had a large population of Black people. My purpose for learning Spanish became understanding the narratives of Black Colombians that I didn’t know about and incorporating Black Latine narratives into the high school Spanish classes I was teaching in the U.S., addressing the frustration that I experienced in school. In 2013, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English courses at the University of Cartagena. I’d only planned to stay a year, but Fulbright called me to come back and teach at the University of Magdalena in Santa Marta, Colombia the following year. And one year in Colombia turned into eight. After living for a few years on the Caribbean coast, I moved to the Pacific coast of Colombia and learned about the realities of Black people in this region. Colombia has a diverse population of Black people, and Blackness is ethnicized and tied to land, which makes the Black experiences different across regions. I moved to Quibdó, Chocó (Colombia’s Black department) where I taught English at the English Language Center (ELC), founded and directed by Beinerth Chitiva Mosquera and the University of Chocó Diego Luis Córdoba (UTCH). In Quibdó, was fortunate to work alongside some amazing educators dedicated to providing equitable education to Afro-Colombian communities in this region. After my time there, a friend sent me a job description for a Resident Director position for a study abroad provider (CET Academic Programs) that partnered with Howard University to open a study abroad program in Cali, Colombia (CET Colombia) that focused on race, ethnicity, and identity through an Afro-Colombian lens. I applied, got the position, and through this position, I was able to build and co-direct the program with a colleague-turned-friend, Mariela Palacios, from Chocó by utilizing the connections I’d established with various communities I’d worked in and with prior to my move to Cali.
This program is special because not only did it put Afro-Colombian narratives to the forefront in the curriculum, but our goal was to establish more horizontal relationships between students and the Black communities we visited. We encouraged the creation and distribution of knowledge from the Black communities in efforts to highlight voices that, although they have experienced armed violence and systemic exclusion in their territories, were actors in spaces of resistance and collective action. I talk more about this in a chapter I co-wrote with an Afro-Colombian scholar and activist Pedro León Cortés Ruiz, and campesinx-born scholar and activist with Indigenous ancestry Diego Andrés Lugo - Vivas , titled “Centering Afro- Colombian Narratives by Exploring Critical Theories and the Complexities of Identity in Study Abroad” in the book Voices from the South: Decolonial Perspectives in International Education.
Connecting with various communities of the African diaspora through study abroad changed my life as a first-generation college student and Black woman from a small town. Now, I not only work to help make Afro-Latine narratives more visible, but also to open doors for more Black students and students of color to have the experience of studying abroad. Community engagement has always been at the center of my approach. I did this work in Cali, Colombia for three years, and now I am continuing to do similar work with Keywords for Black Louisiana.
Can you tell us more about the African diaspora to Colombia?
Colombia has a large population of African descendants as many enslaved Africans were forcibly taken to South America, including Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador. When we [in the U.S.] think about the transatlantic slave trade, it’s not uncommon to only think about it from the U.S. context. However, elements of African cultures are present in the food, music, dance and language that largely define Latin culture, and this is especially present in Colombia.
What is your MA research about?
My research focuses on the formation and expressions of Black identities in Colombia. Specifically, I study a sound system culture called picós and the music genre champeta in Colombia’s Caribbean coast, Cartagena, and San Basilio de Palenque (a maroon community outside of Cartagena, considered to be one of the first free African towns). Champeta is a local music genre that was inspired by the fusion of Black Colombian folkloric music, Afro-Caribbean beats, and African genres such as Congolese soukous, Ghanaian highlife, and Nigerian juju. Picós originated in the 1960s as simpler mobile sound systems, consisting of speakers decorated with fluorescent colors, paintings, and lights, used at social gatherings and corner stores. Over time, particularly by the 1980s, they evolved into massive setups with large speaker towers, turntables, and a DJ playing a mix of African, Caribbean, and local genres—especially champeta.
In my research, I argue that the projection of champeta music through picós creates a sense of collective belonging, fosters resistance, and reclaims space by amplifying the narratives and experiences of Black Colombians on the Caribbean coast. This is significant because Latin America has a long history of denying the existence of its Black populations. These massive sound systems, which take up physical and cultural space while proclaiming the realities of Black Colombians through champeta music, challenge dominant narratives of race, gender, and class. My MA project specifically examines the presence and contributions of women in the champeta and picó scenes, including Nativa and her daughter, Lila, Shirly Palenquera, Betilsa, the first all female champeta band, Las Emperadoras, and other women who actively shape these spaces. I analyze the roles they play in disrupting these dominant narratives. After asking the question, “where are the women in the Champeta music scene?” (because I did not hear them on the radio or see them perform at picós), I learned that there are female artists that are present and doing meaningful work, but they have limited visibility in the music scene and scholarly literature. Given the lack of visibility of women challenging power dynamics in the champeta and picó scene, my goal is to examine their experiences as artists, and how they navigate male-dominated spaces, use champeta and picós as platforms to create space for themselves, and share their lived experiences shaped by race, gender, and class. It’s a collaborative project that prioritizes relationship-building and centering narratives of Afro-Colombian women in these spaces.
What is something you have done with LifexCode that you are especially proud of, were inspired by, or generally considered a great experience?
I help coordinate the Public History Fellows team which consists of four incredible Honors students from Xavier University: J’Niyah Taylor, Harriet Banto, Zaniyah Colbert, and Angelina Stokes. It was established with a partnership through the amazing Dr. Shearon Roberts of Xavier, who is an integral part of our Community Ethics and Accountability Team. What inspires me most is working with the younger generation. Too often, young people don’t receive the credit they deserve, but this team is passionate, incredibly smart, and eager to engage the community with public history. We work well together, showing up at festivals, conferences, and events across the city. Right now, we’re focused on exploring how we can show up in the community in different ways and work with community members to make historical information about Black life in Louisiana accessible. It looks different depending on the event, which means that my mind is in a million places at once but the team grounds me. If there’s one thing I’m most proud of, it’s collaborating with a team that is helping to shape the next generation of leaders. In difficult times, they give me hope for the future.
When you are engaging with the public at events, are there any topics or stories they are most interested in? Or frequently asked questions?
The public is engaged in the work that we do in general. We have a QR codes at events that direct people to learn more about Black stories from Louisiana’s colonial era, and people like to scan them. We work with our community partners to ensure that the public has access to their family histories that they may not have had prior due to archives being paleographic writing and in French and Spanish, languages that descendants may not be fluent in.
It must be gratifying to see your work have a real impact on people.
Yes. I’ve learned that community members, including the students on the Public History Fellows Team, are inspired to learn about their individual families, family histories, and Black life in other contexts. Through working with students from Xavier University, it’s been a beautiful journey for me to see how this inspires the next generation.
Tell us about media (text, art, music, really anything) that inspires your work? This is a chance to tell us about something you love, whether it be a text that you read in grad school, a favorite music album or novel, etc.
I have two - one inspires my work in Keywords and one inspires my research.
First, anthropologist and Africana Studies scholar Cheryl R. Rodriguez focuses on race, gender, class, and housing policy, as well as the histories of local communities. She wrote a chapter in Fugitive Anthropology titled "Embodying Sites of Memory: Fugitive Spaces for Black Feminist Community Histories." In it, she argues that Black women anthropologists, ethnographers, sociologists, historians, and scholars—such as herself, Alice Walker, Angela Gilliam, and Tanisha C. Ford—are often inspired, angered, or moved to reshape historical narratives that have been written and interpreted through a patriarchal lens. That connects to the work I do in Keywords, as well as my personal experience. This work gives me the vocabulary to describe what I experienced throughout my journey in Latin America. She emphasizes that they challenge dominant narratives within what she calls "sites of memory"—fugitive spaces where these histories can be reclaimed and reinterpreted. That’s what we do, right? Her work resonates deeply with me and reminds me of the importance of what we do. The analyses of Black feminist scholars on the lives of Black women in history offer a deeper understanding because we are connected through shared lived experiences. We bring spiritual, emotional, and intellectual tools to our scholarship—perspectives that others often cannot. It reminds me of who I am and that I can bring my identity into the work.
Second, a champeta song on my playlist that’s been on repeat is "Mamá África," by one of the founders of champeta, Luis Towers from San Basilio de Palenque, along with Congolese and Guinean musicians. It’s sung in Spanish, Palenquero (a Spanish-based creole from San Basilio de Palenque), and Kikongo. The track is a perfect blend of Afro-Latin and Soukous music, representing the unity of different communities within the African diaspora coming together to create collectively. Plus, it has a fun groove that makes you want to dance to it. It’s a song that really reflects the spirit of my work.
What DH tools, methods, or theories do you recommend for folks exploring digital humanities against enclosure?
I recommend focusing on community-based approaches. In Keywords, we believe that DH can be understood as a way of thinking, experiencing, and organizing reality. Our ancestors were already engaging in practices of memory, knowledge transmission, and data organization long before modern technologies emerged. To better understand these experiences, it’s important to work within intergenerational spaces, centering the voices and needs of communities.
By working in community, we prioritize the goals and values of the people with whom we collaborate. This involves being creative in how we engage the community and always keeping in mind who the work is for. Not everyone is familiar with the tools we use, so we have to think of creative ways to engage with the community that are genuine, ethical, and effective in collecting, analyzing, and presenting data. As I mentioned, it’s crucial to remember who the work is for. When I get overwhelmed with work, my sister, Jazmen Moore, always says, “Just remember what you do and who you do it for.” This plays on repeat in my mind. It helps me in my personal, academic, and professional life. In Keywords, one of the core principles is to make our work accessible and aligned with the needs of the community, positioning a decolonial approach to academic and research structures, and the way we approach knowledge production in general.
What do you like to do in your free time or how do you recharge? We like to prioritize rest as part of our decolonial praxis.
I come from a family of roller skaters - my mom and dad both roller skate, like what you see in the movie Roll Bounce, so naturally, I love to skate. I also like to curate and listen to amazing DJ sets. In my free time, I enjoy reading historical fiction, dancing, coaching cheer and tumbling, going to the gym and hanging out with my people while documenting memories. I love to build community, so being with my people is how I recharge.
Is there anything I didn’t ask about that you want to share?
I am incredibly grateful to be part of this project and to work with so many brilliant and passionate individuals dedicated to its mission. I would like to give a special shout-out to Dr. Laura Rosanne Adderley, who has been instrumental in encouraging me to consider the historical context of my own research project and in keeping me grounded in the community here in New Orleans.
I also want to thank Dr. Jesssica Johnson, who mentors and guides me with grace and patience as I navigate the ins and outs of this role. Dr. Nadejda Webb has also been extremely supportive.
A special thank you to my friends Chenise Calhoun, Felli Maynard, and Kaillee Coleman, who are not only my community but also part of this project. They’ve all created safe spaces for me to do this meaningful work alongside them, and they pour into me and believe in me even when I sometimes don’t believe in myself.
Thank you to the Black communities in New Orleans—they are the reason this work exists.
Lastly, I want to express my deep gratitude to my mom, whom I strive to make proud every day, and to all of my friends, a few special family members, and friends who have become family in the U.S. and in Colombia, who continue to encourage me and support me on this journey.
I had no idea what champeta music was. Thank you for introducing us to Cintoya and champeta!