Zainabu Jallo
02 December 2023–28 February 2024
Torino
Fusing academic inquiry with creative expression, Zainabu Jallo is a lecturer in Anthropology at the Universities of Basel and Bern in Switzerland, and also a playwright. Her research interests encompass the Afro-Atlantic diaspora, iconic criticism, and material culture—subjects she has interrogated further in multiple plays, including Onions Make Us Cry, Holy Night, and My Sultan is a Rockstar.
Zainabu’s current research project traces the evolution of Criminal Anthropology from its birthplace in Turin to Havana and Bahia. Her new book will tell the story of this discredited discipline and its ongoing implications for Afro-Atlantic religious traditions. She will develop the Turin chapters at nthspace Torino, where she will be able to take advantage of the city’s archival documents and visit significant locations in the story.
Her academic and creative endeavours have received support from the likes of the Sundance Institute, Harvard University’s Institute for World Literature, the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, the Residenztheater in Munich, and Switzerland’s Château de Lavigny and House of Writing. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in England and a member of the UNESCO Coalition of Artists for the General History of Africa. She is one of the principal investigators for Sacral Architecture Africa and the editor of Material Culture in Transit: Theory and Practice.