Dr. Christine Capetola
The Performance Studies community is very sad to share the news of Dr. Christine Capetola’s passing. Dr. Capetola was a passionate scholar, a dedicated teacher, a genuine friend, and a 2014 Alum of the M.A. in Performance Studies. Their family prepared the following remembrance to share.
"With a heavy heart, we write to inform you that Dr. Christine Capetola (PhD, AMS@UT, 2019) passed away on July 30 in Los Angeles, California, sixteen months after receiving a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. We will remember them as a brilliant scholar of queer, Black, sound, affect, and performance studies and a creative and dedicated teacher and mentor. But we will especially mourn the loss of Christine, the truth-telling, community-building, and fiercely committed friend and colleague. Christine was most recently Assistant Professor of African-American Studies at California State University, Fullerton, having also served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Tulane University and Andrew E. Mellon Engaged Scholar Initiative Fellow here at UT Austin. A fearless and deeply sensitive thinker, Christine wrote with urgency and clarity about how the vibrational energies of Black music might foster radical connectivity and a more hopeful and liberatory here-and-now. In their scholarly work, they forged an innovative interdisciplinary methodology artfully expressed through an unflinchingly self-reflective voice. Their first book, Sonic Femmeness: Black Culture Makers, Felt History, and Vibrational Identity—much of it written just before and after their diagnosis—is under contract with Duke University Press. You can read more about it and engage their other scholarship, music writing, and personal essays at http://www.christinecapetola.com/ We realize that news of Christine’s death may come as a shock and sadness for many of you. We extend our condolences to everyone who knew and loved them. We will have more information in the upcoming days regarding memorial services and other ways to pay tribute and respect."
Dr. Capetola will be profoundly missed as a vibrant member of the Performance Studies community.
The photo and family remembrance are courtesy of the African American Studies Department at Cal State Fullerton.