Growing up in New Orleans, Professor Tara Mock has had her share of rich culture and diverse experiences. She has a PhD in African American and African Studies and currently serves as the Assistant Professor for Africana and Asia Studies in the Honors College at the University of Alabama.
She received her doctoral degree in International Relations at The Fletcher School at Tufts. While it is one of the top schools in the country for international relations and diplomacy, they did not have a huge focus on Africa.
“That was an area that I knew that I was mostly interested in, and that if I wanted to develop a more well-rounded understanding of international relations, especially as it related to Africa, that it would be necessary for me to deepen my understanding of the people and spaces and histories and experiences on the continent,” Mock said.
Since studying different cultures such as Africa is vital to Mock, she wanted to further her comprehension of the continent. She has had the privilege to travel to several different places such as Asia, the UK, Japan, Australia, and much more.
Education is very important to Mock, as her father was a professor of African Studies and Black Studies. “Within my household, there was always a really sort of strong consciousness of the connection between African American and African people, and so when it came time for me to pursue a terminal degree, I knew that I wanted to focus on something that really explored those connections,” Mock said.
Her book which should be released in 2026 titled “Contaminated Perceptions” focuses on Africana people and how the African diaspora have been constructed. Mock is interested in how the diaspora has been portrayed in a negative light in the media and explores why that is.
“Media not only reflects sort of our cultural understanding of the other, but it also has a lot to do with sort of constructing this understanding and influencing how we think about groups of people,” Mock said.
Her work extends to other areas such as China and Europe. “I’ve done a comparative analysis of the way in which both Chinese people, but also Euro Americans have sort of historically constructed Africanity,” Mock said.
Mock has studied the similarities and the differences that China and Africa has with each other.
“During the COVID crisis in China, and the way in which African migrants were ostracized in those communities, and that ostracization was underpinned by a lot of these negative images of Africanity that started hundreds of years before,” Mock said.
Between backpacking around the world and getting to write about her experiences, Mock has explored different civilizations and communities.
“It really helped to frame my understanding of who we are as people. And by we, I mean sort of the sort of broad “we” in terms of humanity, what makes us tick, and what you know sort of, what are the things that we hold most important?” Mock said.
She learned that people have more in common than they realize, and most want the same things out of life.
“I learned some important lessons that people, you know, want the same things we want. They want the best for their family and to be happy and healthy,” Mock said.
Mock incorporates her travel experiences to her everyday teaching in her classes and her writing. She wants her students to understand and embrace differences and promote unity.
“If we deal with people as individuals and not necessarily focus on these constructed images of difference, I think we would find that we are typically a lot more alike than we are different,” Mock said.
Mock is currently working on an article that will be submitted by the end of the semester. Her next book will have topics similar to her first one discussed.
“This one, rather focuses on what I refer to as images of sameness that are developed. The second one really focuses on contemporary Chinese policy in on the continent of Africa and the way in which they use what I’m referring to as sameness as a way of inculcating a particular image of self on the continent,” Mock said.
Writers in research, academia, or literature all have different forms of writing, depending on their field.
“There are different types of writing depending upon your audience, and I think it’s important to have an understanding of what is appropriate based on the type of writing that you hope to pursue,” Mock said.
Tara Mock actually got her start as a poet, doing slam poetry in Brooklyn cafes.
“So having a good understanding of the type of writing that you hope to pursue and the constraints that are placed on that type, if any, because scholarly writing is very different, and it for me, it did not come naturally,” Mock said.
Mock even incorporates her poetic style of writing today, and it makes her work stand out. Her advice for future authors is to be adventurous, and take advantage of every opportunity life gives you.
“I would just recommend that students have as many experiences, as many, hopefully positive experiences, as they as they can, because they will only enrich their writing,” Mock said.
