The Waters and Harvey Show addresses the experiences and influences of minorities across Western North Carolina.  Because of the pandemic, we've moved over to Zoom, like many other radio productions, and have expanded the program to one-hour. The series strives to promote increased visibility and understanding of a range of challenging issues facing communities whose historical experiences often go unacknowledged.  

Host biographies:

Dr. Darin J. Waters is an Assistant Professor of History and Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Community Outreach and Engagement at the University of North Carolina at Asheville where he teaches courses in American history, North Carolina History, Appalachian History, African American and Brazilian History.  He also specializes in the history of race relations in both the United States and Latin America. Dr. Waters received his doctorate from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012.  While at Chapel Hill, he worked with Dr. Harry L. Watson and the noted African American historian Dr. John Hope Franklin.  Dr. Waters’ own research has focused on the history of African Americans in Asheville and Western North Carolina. More recently, Dr. Waters has written about issues surrounding the construction of the nation’s collective historical memory, exploring the impact that that memory has on the present.   

Dr. Marcus L. Harvey is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Asheville where he teaches courses on African indigenous and Atlantic religions, folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, and religion in American popular culture. He has expertise in the field of religion and literature as well. Dr. Harvey earned his Ph.D. in religion from Emory University in Atlanta in 2012. His research specialization focuses on the role of indigenous spiritual traditions in the creation of knowledge among the Akan of Ghana and the Yorùbá of Nigeria, as well as on the work of Zora Neale Hurston, one of the pre-eminent writers of twentieth-century African-American literature.  Dr. Harvey has presented and published nationally and internationally on topics related to the study of African forms of thought and black cultural experience. His work has also explored cultural identity issues surrounding the history of Asheville’s Goombay Festival.