Orisanmi Burton
Biography of Orisanmi Burton
Dr. Orisanmi Burton is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at American University, where he focuses on the intersections of grassroots resistance and state repression in the U.S. His work explores the relationship between Black-led social movements and the state’s use of militarized policing, surveillance, and imprisonment to maintain control.
Burton earned a bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College, a master’s in Library and Information Science with an emphasis on archival studies from Long Island University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research has been supported by major institutions like the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard.
In 2021, he was named a Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation, recognizing his groundbreaking scholarship on social and economic justice. His latest book, Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt (2023), offers a radical reinterpretation of the 1970s Attica uprising, examining its lasting impact on abolitionist movements and prison reforms. The book has been critically acclaimed and was shortlisted for the 2024 Museum of African American History Stone Book Award.
Burton’s work is essential for understanding the ongoing struggle for Black liberation, the politics of incarceration, and the strategies the state uses to suppress radical consciousness. His scholarship is shaping the fields of carceral studies, abolitionist thought, and counterinsurgency research, making him a leading voice in these conversations today.
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