Kylie Gaines is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, specializing in political theory, Black political thought, and identity politics. Her dissertation examines expressions of Black nationalism in the Black Lives Matter era as mediated through digital media environments and negotiated through culture, activism, and collective memory. Her research explores how nationalist frameworks continue to shape Black political participation and identity formation in contemporary Black life. At the Blum Center, Kylie serves as a Graduate Student Researcher examining structural constraints on University of California student housing development and their implications for student well-being. Her work has been featured in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics and the London School of Economics US Politics and Policy blog.