Jordache Ellapen

Jordache Ellapen serves as Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies in Culture and Media at the University of Toronto, holding undergraduate appointments in the Department of Historical Studies at UTM and graduate appointments at the Women and Gender Studies Institute (St. George), with cross-appointments in the Department of Visual Studies (UTM) and affiliation with the Bonham Center for Sexual Diversity Studies.

His academic credentials include:

• PhD in American Studies (Indiana University, Bloomington)
• MA in Cinema Studies (New York University, Tisch School of the Arts)
• MA in Film Studies (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg)
• BA in Dramatic Art (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg)

Dr. Ellapen’s research centers Black queer aesthetics and decolonial visual practices across South Africa and the African Diaspora. His work examines Black Sexual Cultures through performance art, photography, and film, challenging normative racial and sexual categories. Key frameworks include Afro-queer-diasporic visuality, pleasure politics, and archival futurity, with emphasis on marginalized artist-activists reimagining freedom beyond colonial constraints.

His recent publications (2020-2021) reveal consistent engagement with transgressive eroticism and feminist futurity in South African contexts, analyzing how visual media subvert racial and sexual norms. The work demonstrates interdisciplinary methodology bridging Black studies, gender theory, and decolonial aesthetics.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Martha LA McCain Faculty Research Fellow at the Bonham Center for Sexual Diversity Studies

As a Martha LA McCain Fellow within the Queer and Trans Research Lab, he advances his book project Against Afronormativity while curating radical Afro-Indian archives. His research integrates grant-supported interdisciplinary collaboration without explicit mention of student advising.

He actively contributes to the Queer and Trans Research Lab at the Bonham Center, developing curatorial frameworks that connect visual culture, decolonial theory, and queer praxis through collaborative knowledge production.