Lasana D. Kazembe, Ph.D.

Dr. Kazembe’s pedagogical inquiry and practice involve deep exploration and leveraging of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Reflective Teaching, liberatory education, and social/racial/cultural justice. The impact of Dr. Kazembe’s work in teaching has been recognized by his being awarded the Indiana University Trustee’s Teaching Award (2024), Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Multicultural Teaching (2022), and the Burton W. Gorman Teaching Award (2022). Dr. Kazembe draws amply and relevantly upon his in-depth, lifelong work in the arts as a poet, media artist, and connoisseur of diverse art forms. As Teaching Artist, he facilitates creative writing and arts learning programs within youth detention centers, prisons, community centers, K12 schools, and other learning spaces.

Dr. Kazembe interprets and leverages creative activity as an innovative form of arts-based research, cultural teaching, and public pedagogy. During 2021-2023, Dr. Kazembe served as inaugural Artist-in-Residence at The Cabaret (a performing arts venue in Indianapolis, IN) where he conceptualized and presented twelve creative presentations including Firedance: Body + Word + Sound as Prism; The Blues and Black America; Wah Wah & Whatnot: A Love Note to Jazz; and State of the Arts: A Creative Convening on Art, Culture & Justice. Dr. Kazembe’s most previous creative project, The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre: The Travelin’ Genius of Richard Wright: A Blues Poetry Opera, is a poetic meditation on the art, life, and legacy of world-renowned author Richard Wright. His newest (2024) creative project is Paul Robeson: Man of the People, a jazz poetry opera and creative meditation that explores the life, activism, and artistic legacy of Mr. Paul Robeson.