Thembelani Mbatha

Thembelani (Themba) Mbatha is Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, with a courtesy affiliation in the English Department. He teaches literary, cultural, and intellectual histories of postcolonial Africa and the African diaspora.

His current research examines the literary afterlives of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), revisiting apartheid archives through contemporary literature and art to reconceptualize racialized memory and witnessing practices for post-apartheid generations. This interdisciplinary work bridges Black Studies, postcolonial criticism, and Memory Studies.