Assistant Professor of Critical Dance Studies at the University of California, Riverside
About
Dr. Imani Kai Johnson is an interdisciplinary scholar, specializing in the African diaspora, global popular culture, and hip hop. She earned her PhD in American studies and ethnicity from the University of Southern California. She is currently completing a manuscript, titled Dark Matter in B-boying Cyphers: Hip Hop in a Global Context, examining the political, cultural, and spiritual nature of hip hop dance through a close examination of the ritual practice of cyphering — collaborative and competitive dance circles. Dr. Johnson has published articles in the Cambridge Encyclopedia on hip hop culture, comparative poetics journal titled Alif, the journal on Women & Performance. She is currently an assistant professor of critical dance studies at UC Riverside. Dr. Johnson is also the founder and chair of the Show & Prove Hip Hop Studies Conference Series.
Current Work:
Dr. Johnson is currently finishing her manuscript, Dark Matter in B-Boying Cyphers: Hip Hop in a Global Context (Oxford University Press), an anthology that she is co-editing with Mary Fogarty titled The Oxford Handbook on Hip Hop Dance Studies, and continuing to organize the Show & Prove Hip Hop Studies Conference Series (www.showandproveconference.com).
Research Area Keyword(s):
Hip hop, Africanist aesthetics, ritual, dance, cyphers
