Dr. Taiwo Afolabi is an interdisciplinary artistic scholar from Africa with internationally recognized expertise in research-based theatre focusing on social justice, human rights, postcolonial theory, and anti-racism education among Indigenous, immigrant, and marginalized communities. Through global theatre projects/publications, his practice-based research encompasses issues of policing, sexual health education, Sustainable Development Goals, African theatre, homelessness, immigration, and language revitalization. He is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET) and is the Canada Research Chair in Socially Engaged Theatre (Tier II). Further, as a theatre manager and entrepreneur, Dr. Afolabi’s interest is in amplifying voices and experiences and re-centring governance models, strategies and systems on the margin through the lens of decolonization, equity and anti-oppressive approaches. His experience in over a dozen countries across five continents in a variety of contexts focused on socially engaged and community-based creative practice for transformational change. Through storytelling, devised theatre, art-based methods and interdisciplinary approaches, he works with communities on social issues pertinent to them, and his research continues to advance broad-minded thinking across different domains. Dr. Afolabi has co-edited five books and published over 50 articles in various books and reputable journals. He is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa and the founding director of Theatre Emissary International (TEMi) in Nigeria and Canada. Dr. Afolabi served as the vice president of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research (CATR) (2022-2024). He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. He has presented his research at various universities, including Stanford University, and holds a visiting research fellowship at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London.

Click to see Taiwo’s profile on: academia.edu, ORCID, Researchgate, and Google Scholar

Other Links: Personal Website