Dr Jason Allen-Paisant

Profile

My research is on cultural memory in the African diaspora, and I combine, and move between, disciplinary and methodological approaches (theatre studies, performance studies, poetics, literary criticism).

I graduated from the University of Oxford in 2015 with a DPhil in Medieval and Modern Languages and joined the University of Leeds in 2016 as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow. At Leeds, I serve as board member of LUCAS (Leeds University Centre for African Studies) and as member of the Leeds University Poetry Centre. 

Research interests

In September 2018, as part of my Leverhulme Fellowship at the University of Leeds, I convened a three-day international and interdisciplinary conference called ‘Memory and Performance in African-Atlantic Futures’.

I am also a creative writer. My poetry has appeared in PN Review, Callaloo, Stand, POUI, among other places, and is forthcoming in Carcanet’s New Poetries Series VIII.

Appearing soon

"Aimé Césaire: Possession as paradigm of consciousness". Submitted to Cultural Critique.

"Animist time and the white Anthropocene". Forthcoming in "Animism in a Planetary Frame", special issue of New Formations, guest edited by Sam Durrant and Philip Dickinson.

“Reassessing the primitive: Spirit possession, imperialism and modernity”. Submitted to Comparative Studies in Society and History.

"Materializing memory in the theatre of Derek Walcott". Submitted to New Theatre Quarterly.

"Dante in Caribbean Poetics: Power, Language, Race". In Elena Lombardi, Manuele Gragnolati, and Francesca Southerden (eds.), The Oxford Handbook on Dante. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.

"Ritual, memory and liminality: Reflections on twentieth-century Caribbean theatre". In Raphale Dalleo, and Curdella (eds.), Caribbean Literature in Transition, Vol 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Misperformance: Staging Law and Justice in the African diaspora. Forthcoming special issue of Callaloo.

Staging Black Futures in the 21st Century. Submitted to Duke University Press (book rooted in 2018 conference).

"Penser et jouer l’absurde dans le théâtre haïtien: Corps, mémoire, possession". International Journal of Francophone Studies, Vol. 22: 3-4

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy (University of Oxford)
• MPhil (University of the West Indies)
• BA (University of the West Indies)

Professional memberships

• Memory Studies Association
• Society for Caribbean Studies
• American Comparative Literature Association