Ngūgī wa Thiong’o Memorial Roundtable: An Appreciation by Richard Schechner, Fred Moten and Barbara Browning

The NYU Department of Performance Studies invites you to a special evening celebrating the life and enduring legacy of our beloved colleague, Ngūgī wa Thiong’o and the 10th year anniversary of the B.A. program with a Roundtable Discussion with Barbara Browning, Fred Moten, and Richard Schechner. This year, we are actively seeking donations to help establish the Ngūgī wa Thiong’o Memorial Scholarship fund, ensuring his vision continues to inspire future generations of theorists, artists and activists. 

The event is free and open to the public, but please note that seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve your seat/access to the zoom webinar and contribute to the Ngūgī wa Thiong’o Memorial Scholarship, make your donation today. If you’re unable to join us, whether in person or on Zoom, but would like to make a gift, you can make your contribution on the same link below. Every contribution helps us empower future scholars! 

Support Tiers:

• $30 Donation: Guarantees your reserved seat. (Reservation will close at 12:00pm ET on Thursday, February 26th, 2026)
• $30 Donation: Provides access to the Zoom link. (Reservations will close at 12:00pm ET on Wednesday, February 25th, 2026)
• $75 Donation: Guarantees your reserved seat and includes a copy of Birth of a Dream Weaver by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o and a signed book from Fred Moten. (Reservation will close at 12:00pm ET on Thursday, February 26th, 2026)
• $200 Donation: Guarantees your reserved seat, a copy of Birth of a Dream by Ngūgī wa Thiong’o, a signed book from Fred Moten, and a hand-printed, Ngugi-inspired woodblock t-shirt by Barbara Browning. (Reservation will close at 12:00pm ET on Thursday, February 26th, 2026)

“Our lives are a battlefield on which is fought a continuous war between the forces that are pledged to confirm our humanity and those determined to dismantle it...” —Ngūgī wa Thiong’o

The Ngūgī wa Thiong’o Memorial Scholarship, established in 2023, aims to honor and support the aspirations and work of undergraduates who study the aesthetic theories, practices, and the modes of historiography and social analysis that have been developed by black peoples, indigenous peoples, and peoples of color in the struggle for social, economic, and ecological justice, in a national and international frame over the last five hundred years. Named after the renowned Kenyan novelist, playwright, director, and freedom fighter who was a member of the Department of Performance Studies for many years, the purpose of the Scholarship is to encourage students who wish to defend diversity, equity and inclusion on our campus and in the world.  This scholarship opportunity is open to all interested candidates, regardless of racial identity.  Scholarship recipients will be chosen through a selection process where applicants are asked to demonstrate through their scholarship and/or performance work a strong commitment to the ideals of free expression, aesthetic innovation, moral courage, and radical equality that are the hallmark of Ngūgī’s career as a writer and activist.

Roundtable Description: 

"Words are the food, body, mirror, and sound of thought. Do you now see the danger of words that want to come out but are unable to do so?" (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow)

Our beloved former colleague Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (1938-2025) will remain forever a shining star in the constellation of decolonial theorists, artists, and activists. A fierce proponent of literature written in African languages, an utterly brilliant, groundbreaking and prolific novelist himself, Ngũgĩ was also among the most incisive performance theorists in the history of our field. At this roundtable, Barbara Browning, Fred Moten, and Richard Schechner, who all worked beside him, will reflect on what Ngũgĩ taught them about decolonial theory and black study, about the performative power of fiction, and about enactments of power in the public sphere. 

BIOS:

Barbara Browning is an academic and writer of fiction. She's taught for the last thirty years in the Department of Performance Studies at TSOA/NYU. She's published three novels (The Gift and The Correspondence Artist, both winners of the Lambda Literary Award, and I'm Trying to Reach You, finalist for The Believer Book Award), and numerous works of nonfiction (most recently The Miniaturists). 

Fred Moten teaches in the Department of Performance Studies at New York University. His most recent work, in collaboration with Brandon López, is Revision (TAO Forms Records, 2025).

Richard Schechner is Editor of TDR: The Journal of Performance Studies and University Professor Emeritus at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. His books include Environmental Theater, Performance Theory, Schechner Plays, and Between Theater and Anthropology. Schechner has directed performances, led workshops, taught, and lectured on every continent but Antarctica.