Laylí J. T. Brown-Stangeland, Chief Akello Dawumana of Machina Emirate, Yobe State, Nigeria, is a Ph.D. student in African and Afro-Latin American Studies at Harvard University. A Native of Costa Rica, her work examines the conservation of Afro-descendant land, territory, and identity through cultural maroonage. Rooted in her Tribal Town of Old Harbour (Uolaba), she founded the Museo Afro-Costa Rica, a living space of memory, art, and resistance. Her scholarship interlaces heritage, activism, and governance, drawing on oral history, ethnography, and archival study to articulate how safeguarding Limonence Criole, women’s leadership, and community movements anchor the endurance of Afro-descendants. She extends this vision across the wider African diaspora, placing Caribbean experience in conversation with Africa and the world.