Geechee Gal Griot. Shaper. Shapeshifter. Infinite space & time traveler. Dimension-hopper. Gatekeeper. Conjure Ooman. Daughter of The South. Lover of Blackness & Queerness & Wholeness.
Sara Makeba Daise, M.A.
Welcome!
My name is Sara Makeba (she/her/hers). I am a Black, queer, fifth-generation Gullah Geechee woman, Afrofuturist, Cultural History Interpreter, Writer, Singer, Diviner and Healer from Beaufort, South Carolina. My work weaves past, present, and future in grounded, expansive and liberating ways.
Daughter of Storytellers, Culture Bearers, and stars of Nick Jr.‘s Gullah Gullah Island, Ron & Natalie Daise, my praxis builds on their continuous work, unearthing new and old archives, and weaving timelines and dimensions together.
My research, teachings and embodiment include: The South, Indigenous Sovereignty, Gullah Geechee folk, Africana Studies, Womanism, Black Feminism, Black migration patterns, speculative fiction, non-linear time, Shadow Work, Afrofuturism, queerness, sexual freedom, epigenetic wisdom, disability justice, healing justice, ancestral communication & elevation, pleasure & the erotic, magic, healing, spirituality, Black affirmations, and the power to imagine and manifest better worlds.
I received a B.S. in Communication and a minor in African American Studies from the College of Charleston. I got my M.A. in Public History with distinction from Union Institute & University. My creative thesis: “‘Come on in The Room’: Afrofuturism as a Path to Black Women’s Retroactive Healing” was a 2018 recipient of the Brian Webb Award for Outstanding MA Thesis in History & Culture from Union Institute & University.
My acclaimed 2020 essay "Be Here Now: The South is a Portal", explores the South as a portal for Africana and Indigenous ways of knowing.
Invaluable work experiences include: The Charles Joyner Institute for Gullah Geechee & African Diaspora Studies at Coastal Carolina University, McLeod Plantation Historic Site, Real Black Grandmothers, The Slave Dwelling Project, and the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.
I’ve recently consulted as a Cultural Sensitivity Reader for creative projects about Gullah Geechee and Africana history & culture. This includes Southern Gothic Horror author, Eden Royce’s debut YA novel, ROOT MAGIC.
Interpreting tangible and intangible realities, I bring the divine, compassionate, critical analysis rooted in my womanish experience to transmute and alchemize the chaos of the present moment. Reframing and re-imagining the past. Planting seeds for the future. Circulating intergenerational grace throughout infinite timelines. Propagating love everywhere.
I find joy, pleasure, restoration, and healing in my ancestors, plants, water, the stars, words, music, laughter, tears, and Black folk.
At its core, my work centers Black women, queer, trans, and non-binary Black & Indigenous peoples --inviting us to consider and align with our wholeness, pleasure, and divinity. It dismantles the shame, self-loathing, and scarcity learned in this Crooked Room; and unearths archives affirming that we are infinite, and came before alladis. It is rooted in our lived experiences, our inherent value, and the intuitive platform of the present. It manifests possibilities of retroactive healing, and new suns.
Thank you for being here!
Inhale.
Exhale.
Repeat.
Inhale again.
Now, let’s go deep.🖤
*Professional photos by Freda Funnye