WOMEN'S ACTIVIST THEATRE IN JAMAICA AND SOUTH AFRICA, gender, race, and performance space

212pp., illus., paperback, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 2023

ISBN: 9780252087370

Nicosia Shakes on the relationship between activism and theater production. 

Incudes the chapters "'The Wound Is Still There': Walk, South Africa and the ontological violence of rape", and "Alternative Spaces: Black self-making, space-making, and the work of Olive Tree Theatre".

“Women's Activist Theatre in Jamaica and South Africa is a provocative ethnographic look at some of the most influential Black women’s theatre collectives in the world ...  Shakes takes us on a journey into the world of theater for social change, emphasizing the ways that Black women have chosen to use performance and embodiment to agitate for rights and speak out against multiple forms of violence. Engaging with performance as a public practice, Shakes demonstrates how the theater has been and continues to be a valuable political zone for Black women. Women's Activist Theatre in Jamaica and South Africa makes critical contributions to Black performance studies, Black Studies, theater studies and anthropology, and is a must read for anyone interested in the transnational politics of race, gender, and the political stage.” Christen Smith, author of Afro-Paradise: Blackness, Violence, and Performance in Brazil

Nicosia Shakes is Assistant Professor of History and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Merced.