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portrait of scad faculty Elias Capello

Elias Capello

Liberal arts professor

Education

  • Ph.D., anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • M.A., anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • B.S., neuroscience, Centenary College of Louisiana

Credentials

  • Professor of liberal arts, Jan. 2020–present, Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA
  • Teaching assistant, 2015–18, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Awards, recognitions, and honors

  • Amazon Best-Selling Author in Trans Studies and LGBT+ Demographic Studies
  • Atlanta Mayor's Youth Climate Action Leadership Award
  • Art Keene Leadership and Community Service
  • Educator of the Year
  • National Science Foundation Fellowship
  • Louisiana Community Advocate of the Year

Organizations

  • Faculty Sponsor of International Student Podcast, Queer Artists, 2023–present
  • Faculty Member of the International Student Committee, 2021–23
  • Teaching Engagement Coach, 2024–present
  • Five Points Urban Farm, 2023–present
  • Atlanta Housing Justice League, 2020–present
  • Southern Fried Queer Pride Community Organizer, 2017–22
  • President of Louisiana Trans Advocates, 2011–15

Publications and presentations

  • Trans Geographies of Joy: Building Community in Atlanta. NYU Press. June 2026. Trans and White Trash.
  • Capello, E. (2022), Trans and White Trash: An Ethnography of Trans People in the Deep South. Anthropology and Humanism, 47: 69-84. https://doi.org/10.1111/anhu.12362
  • "Queering 'the Community' in Community Based Research." In S. Atalay (ed.), The Community-Based PhD: Complexities, Triumphs, Missteps and Joys of Community-Based & Participatory Action Research as Graduate Students, University of Arizona Press, 2022.
  • "Bons Amis: Resilience Against Suicide for Transgender Communities in Louisiana." In K. Strunk (ed.), Queering the Deep South: Research on Queer Studies in the U.S. Southeast, Information Age Publishing, 2019.