Chinua Thelwell
Chinua Thelwell is an American theatre researcher with a special interest in Afro-diasporic history and performance, including blackface minstrelsy.
Biography
Born Chinua Akimaro Thelwell, he received his PhD from the American Studies Program at New York University in 2011. Having developed a wide range of teaching and research interests, he has published on a wide range of matters. Currently Associate Professor, History and Africana Studies at the College of William & Mary in Massachusetts
Contribution to South African theatre studies
His research focuses on performance as hegemonic and counter-hegemonic race discourse, and his most relevant published work for Southern African studies includes an article in The Drama Review entitled , and two monographs: an edited collection titled Theater and Cultural Politics for a New World (Routledge in 2016) and Exporting Jim Crow: Blackface Minstrelsy in South Africa and Beyond (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020).
