Jasmine E. Johnson

Jasmine E. Johnson, Ph.D.

Jasmine E. Johnson
  • Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, School of Arts and Sciences

Jasmine Elizabeth Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment at the Annenberg School.

Her work explores the politics of black movement including dance, diasporic travel, and gentrification. Johnson's interdisciplinary research and teaching are situated at the intersection of diaspora theory, dance and performance studies, ethnography, and black feminisms. Her first book project, Rhythm Nation: West African Dance and the Politics of Diaspora, is a transnational ethnography on the industry of West African dance.

Johnson has received a number of fellowships and grants including those from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Her work has been published by The Drama ReviewASAP JournalDance Research JournalAfrica and Black Diaspora: An International JournalTheater Survey, the Routledge Encyclopedia of ModernismAster(ix), and elsewhere. She serves as a Board Director for the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance and for the Dance Studies Association.

Selected Publications

Rhythm Nation: West African Dance and the Politics of Diaspora. Oxford University Press, forthcoming.