Dotun Ayobade

Dotun Ayobade is an Assistant Professor of Performance Studies and Black Studies at Northwestern University. His research focuses on how embodied popular culture shapes community, justice, and activism in postcolonial West Africa, particularly examining the interplay of aesthetics and social performance in Nigeria. He holds a joint appointment across disciplines and has taught at the University of Texas at Austin and Brown University prior to Northwestern.

His academic interests include African/Black Performance Theory, African Popular Culture, and the intersection of performance with postcolonial politics. He is currently completing a book on Nigeria’s Afrobeat Queens, analyzing their role in Fela Kuti’s music subculture, under contract with Indiana University Press. This work has earned him prestigious awards, including the University of Texas Continuing Fellowship and Brown University’s Salomon Award.

His scholarly contributions span peer-reviewed journals like Dance Research Journal and Journal of African Cultural Studies, with articles exploring topics such as sonic embodiment in Nigerian music and the spatial poetics of protest. He also engages with public discourse through platforms like Africa is a Country, addressing issues like neoliberalism and cultural netizenship.

Ayobade’s work bridges performance ethnography, gender studies, and postcolonial theory, emphasizing the agency of marginalized voices in shaping cultural narratives. His research integrates interdisciplinary methods to unpack how performance mediates between individual creativity and collective socio-political realities in Africa and its diasporas.