Omi Jones
Professional Affiliate, Leadership for Sustainability
Professor, African and African Diaspora Studies Department, University of Texas at Austin
BIO
Omi Osun Joni L. Jones’ work is grounded in Black Feminist principles and theatrical jazz aesthetics. She is an artist/scholar/facilitator whose original performances include sista docta—a critique of academic life; and Sittin’ in a Saucer—a series of readings with audience/witnesses using literature as prompts for engagement. Among her ethnographic works are Searching for Ọ̀ṣun—a performance installation around the Divinity of the River; and Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àṣẹ, and the Power of the Present Moment (Ohio State University Press, 2015)—a collaborative ethnography focusing on three theatrical jazz visionaries. As a facilitator and dramaturg, Omi has worked with theatre artists, community organizers, dancers, university students, visual artists, and work staff in the US, Nigeria, and Brazil. During her 28 years at the University of Texas at Austin, she served as the Director of the Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, as well as founder of the ISESE Gallery, The Performing Blackness Series, and the Austin Project—a collective of Global Majority women and allies using art to foster personal growth and social change. Omi has been shaped by Robbie McCauley’s activist art, Laurie Carlos’s insistence on being present, and Barbara Ann Teer’s overt union of art and Spirit. She earned her Ph.D. from New York University, and her Embodied Social Justice Certificate from Transformative Change. She is Professor Emerita from the African and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin, a mother, a Queer wife, and a curious sojourner.
Bio
Omi Osun Joni L. Jones’ work is grounded in Black Feminist principles and theatrical jazz aesthetics. She is an artist/scholar/facilitator whose original performances include sista docta—a critique of academic life; and Sittin’ in a Saucer—a series of readings with audience/witnesses using literature as prompts for engagement. Among her ethnographic works are Searching for Ọ̀ṣun—a performance installation around the Divinity of the River; and Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àṣẹ, and the Power of the Present Moment (Ohio State University Press, 2015)—a collaborative ethnography focusing on three theatrical jazz visionaries. As a facilitator and dramaturg, Omi has worked with theatre artists, community organizers, dancers, university students, visual artists, and work staff in the US, Nigeria, and Brazil. During her 28 years at the University of Texas at Austin, she served as the Director of the Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, as well as founder of the ISESE Gallery, The Performing Blackness Series, and the Austin Project—a collective of Global Majority women and allies using art to foster personal growth and social change. Omi has been shaped by Robbie McCauley’s activist art, Laurie Carlos’s insistence on being present, and Barbara Ann Teer’s overt union of art and Spirit. She earned her Ph.D. from New York University, and her Embodied Social Justice Certificate from Transformative Change. She is Professor Emerita from the African and African Diaspora Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin, a mother, a Queer wife, and a curious sojourner.