GhLinks Media
As sentiments are pouring out from around the world after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Dr Uju Anya, a Carnegie Mellon University professor is under fire for a social media post.
Dr Anya faced a serious Twitter backlash for the seeming insensitivity – even from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who then came in for criticism herself – but the professor responded by doubling down on the tweet.
Professor Uju Anya posted the following tweet, which has since been removed by Twitter:
“I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.”
However, Carnegie Mellon University, where Uju Anya works, has condemned the social media post, stating;
A statement regarding recent social media posts by Uju Anya. pic.twitter.com/NinpPa4rZg
— Carnegie Mellon University (@CarnegieMellon) September 8, 2022
Anya has since posted an additional tweet, stating:
If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.
— Uju Anya (@UjuAnya) September 8, 2022
Who is Dr. Uju Anya?
Dr. Uju Anya is faculty in the Department of Modern Languages at Carnegie Mellon University.
She teaches and conducts research in critical applied linguistics, critical sociolinguistics, new language learning, and critical race and discourse studies as associate professor of second language acquisition.
She has expertise in diversity, equity, and inclusion in instructional practices and curriculum design, applied linguistics as a practice of social justice, intercultural communication, as well as service-learning and civic engagement in secondary and university-level language programs.
Dr Anya, who describes herself on Twitter as an “antiracist” and “feminist,” was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and mother from Trinidad and Tobago. Both countries were colonised by the British.
Previously, Dr. Anya was assistant professor of second language learning in Curriculum and Instruction at Penn State University, assistant professor of teacher education in TESOL at the University of Southern California; visiting assistant professor and faculty director of the Dartmouth College Portuguese language study abroad program in Salvador-Bahia, Brazil; and lecturer in applied linguistics, TESOL, Portuguese, and Spanish at UCLA and Dartmouth College.
She holds a PhD in applied linguistics from UCLA, an MA in Brazilian studies from Brown University, and a BA in Romance languages from Dartmouth College.
