H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams, PhD., M.Ed., known as Dr. Herukhuti, is a cultural studies scholar, sex researcher-educator, systems theorist, cultural worker, interdisciplinary socio-cultural scientist, and priest-conjurer-healer in the Kemetic/Ancient Egyptian tradition whose work operates at the intersection of race, culture, sexuality, and spirituality. He is of Akan and Lissongo genetic ancestry. He draws upon the arts, social sciences, performance studies, and cultural studies in his research—using a variety of methods including narrative/storytelling, autoethnography, close readings of media, literary criticism, Theatre of the Oppressed, oral history interviewing, and critical theory.

A practitioner of tai chi chuan, chi kung, hatha yoga, and pranayama since the age of 14, Dr. Herukhuti has taught wellness and embodied health practices for decades. He is a past recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health-funded graduate research assistantship, which allowed him to receive training in sex research, HIV prevention research, and socio-clinical research methodology at the HIV Center for Clinical Behavioral Studies at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Dr. Herukhuti, author of the book Conjuring Black Funk: Notes on Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality, Volume I (Vintage Entity Press), holds a PhD and MA in human and organizational systems with a concentration in transformative learning for social justice and specializations in sexuality and cross-cultural studies of knowledge as well as a graduate degree in education and degrees in psychology and political science. His work has been published in various academic and popular contexts.

He is the award-winning co-editor of the Lambda Literary Award nonfiction finalist anthology and Bisexual Book Awards nonfiction and anthology winner Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men (Bisexual Resource Center) and Sexuality, Religion and the Sacred: Bisexual, Pansexual and Polysexual Perspectives (Routledge).

A member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Bisexuality–co-editor of the journal’s special double issue on spirituality–and the Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, he has written about and lectured on bisexuality, particularly among people of African descent. Dr. Herukhuti has been a Congressional Black Caucus Scholar, Bisexual Book Awards Writer of the Year, Brenda Howard Memorial awardee, Thought Leader for the Association of Black Sexologists and Clinicians, Camp Pride Educator-in-Residence, Lambda Literary Foundation Playwriting Fellow, a fellow in the Third World Newsreel Video Production Workshop and a member of the Black Playwrights Group of the Liberation Theatre Company. And soon will debut his most recent master-work, the play, In the Valley of Coming Forth.

He has taught at New York University, School of the Future, Young Adult Learning Academy, and Fielding Graduate University. He is currently a faculty member in the undergraduate programs of Goddard College and the graduate program in applied theatre in the School of Professional Studies at City University of New York (CUNY). At Goddard College, he co-founded the world’s first sexuality studies program dedicated to promoting decolonizing sexuality and challenging the whiteness and Eurocentricity of the field.
Dr. Herukhuti has appeared on radio, television, and web venues including HuffPost Live and NewsOne Now on TVOne with Roland Martin.