Writer. Scholar. Researcher. Creative.
Credit: Calla Evans
I am the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Black Expressive Culture and Creativity in the Diaspora and an Associate Professor of Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University. I am the Founder and Director of ArchiveBlack (formerly known as Mapping Ontario's Black Archives, MOBA), and the author of four books: Beauty in a Box, Uncle, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic, and my most recent work, Staging Blackface in Canada, which examines variety shows, public amusements, and racial caricature in Canada between 1898 and 1919. I also co-edited Creative Industries in Canada. (Click for more).
Recent Publication
My Most Read Blog Post
My Research Programs
Writing
I engage in the intersectional historical and transnational study of race, culture, images, and performance as they intertwine with archives and historical records, production, and creative industries.
Creativity
I have authored multiple books, curated events, performed as part of Nuit Blanche, and have written over 60 articles in newspapers, magazines, online publications, and more.
Community Practice
I am Founder and Director of ArchiveBlack (formerly Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives, MOBA), a platform brings together archival research, digital storytelling, and public engagement to create new pathways into Black history and cultural memory.
Creative Practice
Black Creative Lab produces video content that educates, celebrates, and informs audiences about the depth, breadth, and expressive history of Black people across sites of Diaspora.
Black Creative Lab on YouTube
Black Creative Lab posts social media content produced by ArchiveBlack (formerly Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives, MOBA), the digital platform I founded in 2021 that is re-imagining digital curation, storytelling and the living archive as a source of knowledge production and cultural memory.
Substack & TEDx Talk
Is positive thinking mandatory for success?