معرفی
Lily Mengesha is an Assistant Professor of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at Tufts University, holding the Fletcher Foundation Professorship of Dramatic Literature. She is also an Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora. Her work bridges Critical Indigenous Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Performance Studies, focusing on how Indigenous feminist artists use performance to resist colonial erasure and reimagine futures.
Education: PhD (2018), MA (2014) in Theater Arts & Performance Studies from Brown University; MS Ed from Hunter College; AB in English, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Political Science from Bryn Mawr College.
Her research explores transnational Indigenous performance practices, particularly through her forthcoming book Critical Dreaming, which analyzes feminist performances confronting feminicide and decolonizing histories. Supported by grants from institutions like MIT and the Social Science Research Council, her work appears in Journal for Dramatic Theory and Criticism, ASAP/Journal, and Canadian Theatre Review.
Awarded the 2021 Institute for Citizens & Scholars grant, Mengesha’s publications emphasize decolonial methodologies and embodied knowledges. As a director and dramaturg, she collaborates on performance events addressing Indigenous sovereignty and intersectional justice.
Teaching focuses include Contemporary Indigenous Performance, Decolonial Theory, and courses on race, affect, and performance. She has organized symposia like Resurgent Futures and presented at venues such as the Hemispheric Institute Convergence.
