Tawanda Chabikwa

Tawanda Chabikwa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), serving as Coordinator and Department Library Liaison. Their research focuses on Africanist and diasporic frameworks for experimental dance performance, pedagogy, and AI development, emphasizing Black/Africana creative praxes. Key theoretical concepts include 'self-crafting,' informed by wor(l)ding, diunital logic, and the extended self. Research draws on colonial archives, collaborations with Black artists/technologists, and auto-ethnography.

Research interests span Dance Studies, Africana Studies, and Black Performance Theory, with attention to liberation histories and contemporary African cultures. Supported by NSF grants (DUE-0963648, HRD-1242122) through UTEP’s Research & Innovation office, their work critiques Eurocentric paradigms and centers Africana epistemologies. Practice-as-research methodologies are central to their interdisciplinary approach.