Maya Berry is a sociocultural anthropologist who writes on topics related to race, gender, politics, and performance in Cuba, as well as black feminist approaches to ethnographic methods more broadly. She earned a PhD. in Anthropology from University of Texas at Austin and an MA in Performance Studies from New York University. Prior to joining AAAD at UNC-Chapel Hill, she was a postdoctoral associate at the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. A third-generation Afro-Cuban-American, she is practitioner and researcher of Afro-Cuban dance. For her teaching at UNC she has been awarded the Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship Award in Engaged Teaching (2020) and the Johnston Teaching Excellence Award (2021).