Naila Keleta-Mae
Hagey Hall room 334
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Bio
Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae is a Dorothy Killam Fellow, Canada Research Chair in Race, Gender and Performance, Royal Society of Canada College Member, Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo and multi-disciplinary artist. She is the Principal Investigator of Black And Free, a research-creation project that she founded in 2017that brings together artists, academics, students and the general public through multi-year research partnerships with private and public sector organizations. Keleta-Mae has authored the books Beyoncé and Beyond: 2013-2016 (Routledge UK) and Performing Female Blackness (Wilfrid Laurier University Press) and she is Co-Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Theatre Research In Canada/Recherches théâtrales au Canada. Her music albums are Fire Woman, Bloom and Free Dome: South Africa; her plays are What We Deserve, No Knowledge College and stuck; and she has performed in Canada, France, Jamaica and South Africa. Keleta-Mae has also commentated for media outlets including the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, Business News Network, CTV, The Canadian Press, The National Post, The Fader, Today’s Parent and the British Broadcast Corporation.
Keywords
Social Impact Research, Black Studies, Feminist Studies; Theatre and Performance Studies; Community-engaged scholarship; Research-Creation; Artist-scholar
Abstract
For centuries Black people have used visual art, literature, performance, theatre, music and other aspects of Black expressive culture to imagine and advocate for freedom in the public and private spheres that influence everyday life. The overarching goal of Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae’s multi-year research-creation project, Black And Free, is to examine some of the ways that Black expressive culture defines what it means to be Black and free. The project explores themes related to blackness and freedom through the creation and production of sub-projects including: 1) commissions of new artistic work by established and emerging Black artists; 2) theatre training and education for young audiences; 3) public programming events; 4) digital assets; 5) peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed publications; 6) site visits to historical locations and public events; 7) four videos by the PI, and 8) three mixed-media pieces by the PI. These sub-projects are being realized through funding from Canadian grant agencies and partnerships with the following public and private sector organizations: Citizen Brand; Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum; NOR: The design commons for Canada; Studio Otherness; TheEDGE; THEMUSEUM, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, and Young People’s Theatre.