Marcelitte Lucia Failla

Also known as: Marcelitte The Third

Black witch, African-derived religions, occult, tarot, Black feminism, Black queer studies

Marcelitte Failla is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at North Carolina State University. She received her Ph.D. from Emory University in American Religious Cultures with a certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her current book project investigates how contemporary Black witches employ African diasporic religions for manifestation, healing, and protection from anti-Blackness. more

2026 chapter

Black Witchcraft: Reclaiming an Ancestral Term of Power

[The Crossroads Project,]. In V. A. Booker, A. Greene-Hayes, J. Weisenfeld, & A. Wells-Oghoghomeh (Eds.), New Scholarship in the Study of African American Religious History. https://crossroads.princeton.edu/news/2022/call-papers-new-scholarship-study-african-american-religious-history

By: M. Failla

Contributors: M. Failla

Ed(s): V. Booker, A. Greene-Hayes, J. Weisenfeld & A. Wells-Oghoghomeh

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2026 article

“Hoodoo and Ifá /Orisa Traditions.”

(E. J. Locke & B. Wright, Eds.). The Palace of Thundering Gods: A Massively Collaborative Open History of Religion in the United States. https://www.americanyawp.com/projects/the-palace-of-thundering-gods/

By: M. Failla

Contributors: M. Failla

Ed(s): E. Locke & B. Wright

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2025 article

“You Deserve, Baby!”:

FAILLA, M. A. R. C. E. L. I. T. T. E. (2025, February 7). (S. Chaudhuri & J. Ward, Eds.). The Witch Studies Reader, pp. 75–89.

By: M. Failla*

Ed(s): S. Chaudhuri & J. Ward

topics (OpenAlex):
Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2022 journal article

Assembling Black Spiritual Totality: The Black Witch, Ontological Power and Imagining a Black World of Being

The Black Scholar. https://www.theblackscholar.org/call-for-papers/black-religions-in-the-digital-age/

By: M. Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2022 journal article

Black Women and Tarot

Liturgy, 36(1). https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ultg20/current

By: M. Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2022 conference paper

Cultivating Inherent Power: The Black Witch, Ontology, and African-Derived Religion

American Academy of Religion.

Contributors: M. Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2022 conference paper

Manifesting Change: The Black Witch and Spiritual Activism

National Women’s Studies Association Conference.

Contributors: M. Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2022 conference paper

Reclaiming an Ancestral Term of Power

African and Diasporic Religious Studies Association.

Contributors: M. Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2019 journal article

Black Femmes, Black Gods: Magic as Justice

Journal of Religion and Culture, 28. http://www.jrc-concordia.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/JRC-v28n02-FAILLA-marcelitte-1.pdf

By: M. Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2019 conference paper

Dark Sciences: Collective Dreaming for Transformative Change

National Women’s Studies Association Conference. https://www.nwsa.org/

Marcelitte Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2019 conference paper

Knowings: African Heritage Religions and Their Underappreciated Epistemologies

Kosanba Conference. https://latinamericancaribbean.duke.edu/kosanba-conference

Marcelitte Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

2014 conference paper

Mixed Roots Stories Panel: Inclusion of the Mixed Experience in Performance Pieces

Critical Mixed-Race Studies Conference.

Marcelitte Failla

Source: ORCID
Added: March 31, 2025

Employment

Updated: March 31st, 2025 14:03

2024 - present

North Carolina State University Raleigh, North Carolina, US
Assistant Professor Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

2023 - present

Emory University Atlanta, Georgia, US
Visiting Assistant Professor Women's, Gender and Sexuality & African American Studies

2020 - 2020

Agnes Scott College Decatur, GA, US
Adjunct Faculty Religion

2019 - 2019

Emory University Atlanta, GA, US
Teaching Assistant African American Studies

2015 - 2017

Sadie Nash Leadership Project New York, NY, US
Faculty/ Summer Program Assistant Director

2016 - 2017

SUNY Empire State College Saratoga Springs, NY, US
Adjunct Faculty Film

Education

Updated: March 31st, 2025 14:05

2017 - 2023

Emory University GA, GA, US
PhD Graduate Division of Religion

2012 - 2014

The City College of New York New York, NY, US
MFA Film

2007 - 2010

Hunter College NY, NY, US
BA Africana Studies

Funding History

Funding history based on the linked ORCID record. Updated: March 31st, 2025 14:22

award January 1, 2022 - January 1, 2023
The Black Witch: Ontological Power, Black Worldmaking, and Spiritual Co-Creation
American Council of Learned Societies
grant April 1 - August 1, 2018
Initiative in Religious Practices
Emory University
grant March 1 - August 1, 2018
Fellow in Sustainability, Teaching, and Curriculum
Emory University
salary-award September 1, 2017 - May 1, 2022
Emory Living Stipend
Emory University
grant September 1, 2017 - May 1, 2022
Emory Laney Graduate Fellowship
Emory University

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