Dr. M. Aziz (Uh-Zeez), (pronouns: they/them/theirs), is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies in the Department of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington. Aziz received their Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in African American Studies from Columbia University. Their first book asks how folks who practiced unarmed self-defense and martial arts contributed to Black Power organizing and shifting ideas about liberation, abolition, and gender norms. It also traces how the learning of martial arts was facilitated by U.S. militarism during the Cold War.