SE3/EP 28: Conversation with Jaamil Olowale Kosoko a Nigerian American Author, a Performance Artist, and an Educator.

I wanted to start this podcast note by quoting from Jaamil Olawale Kosoko’s latest book, A Notion on Foregetting from Black Body Amnesia: Poems and Other Speech Acts. “Learn how to foreget living in a world positioned in direct opposition to your humanity; Foreget yourself a new paradigm where you radically center your own cultures, languages, and economies of care.” In 2017, I came across Jaamil Olawale Kosoko while listening to a podcast called “Terrible, Thanks For Asking. The title of the episode in which their story was featured was “What does all this loss mean.” In the podcast, Kosoko talked about the death of their mom, brother, sister, grandmother, uncle, and later their dad. Most of these deaths occurred before Kosoko turned 16 years old. As Kosoko said during the story, even when their parents were alive, they still felt like an orphan because their father was never present. When the father was present, he could not provide and support Kosoko both emotionally and financially. The mother also struggled with mental and physical illness before she passed away. With all these traumatic childhood experiences, Kosoko became an accomplished artist with many professional accolades. My heart sank when I listened to the story, and I was full of sadness, thinking about how one person can go through such traumatic experiences and still extract positive from adversity. After listening to the podcast, I emailed Kosoko without further thoughts if I would get a response. To my surprise, they responded to my email, and we have been in touch from time to time. During our conversation, we talked about their career as performing artist and an educator. We also talked about many publications attached to their name. We further dived into Kosoko’s relationship with their father when they lived together in the US and when their father relocated back to Nigeria. We talked about how their traumatic childhood and adolescent experiences influenced who they are today, both spiritually and professionally. We discussed how they have been able to manage all the different emotions that come from painful childhood experiences. It was a delight to have Kosoko on my platform to converse with me. I want to thank Kosoko for their generosity and vulnerability in sharing their experiences with me on Pansa Pansa Podcast. I believe that those who would listen to this podcast would be transformed into enlightenment after listening to what they have shared. Biography: Jaamil Olawale Kosoko is a multi-spirited Nigerian American author, performance artist, and curator of Yoruba and Natchez descent originally from Detroit, MI. Their book Black Body Amnesia: Poems and Other Speech Acts was released in Spring of 2022. Kosoko is also a 2022 MacDowell Fellow, 2020 Pew Fellow in the Arts, 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography, 2017-19 Princeton Arts Fellow, 2019 Red Bull Writing Fellow, 2018 NEFA NDP Production Grant recipient, 2017 MAP Fund recipient, and 2017 Cave Canem Poetry Fellow. Their creative practice draws from Black study and queer theories of the body, weaving together visual performance, lecture, ritual, and spiritual practice. Their live art works Chameleon (The Living Installments) premiered virtually in April 2020, Séancers (2017) and the Bessie nominated #negrophobia (2015) have toured internationally, appearing in major festivals including: Tanz im August (Berlin), Moving in November (Finland), Within Practice (Sweden), TakeMeSomewhere (UK), Brighton Festival (UK), Oslo Teaterfestival (Norway), and Zürich MOVES! (Switzerland), among others. Additionally, Kosoko lectures regularly at Princeton University, Stockholm University of the Arts, and Master Exerce ICI-CCN in Montpellier, France. In Fall 2020, they were appointed the 3rd annual Alma Hawkins Visiting Chair in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA. Connect with jaamil on IG at jaamil_means_beauty