Cheryl Thompson: podcast appearances and interviews

Cheryl Thompson is a Black Canadian academic known for her work in media studies, performance, archives, and collections in Canada. She is an associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University in the school of performance. Thompson earned a PhD in communication studies at McGill University, where she was supervised by Charmaine Nelson and Will Straw. Her first book, Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada's Black Beauty Culture, published in 2019, analyzed the relationship between Black women's hair and Canadian immigration, politics, and societal norms. The book was based on her doctoral dissertation. In her work, she aims to raise awareness of the unique experiences of Black women living in the Western world. Thompson joined Toronto Metropolitan's Creative School in 2018 and has led research projects including one on Newspapers, Minstrelsy and Black Performance at the Theatre, supported by an SSHRC Insight Development Grant. Prior to her current role, she was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, working with the Centre for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies and the Department of English and Drama. Her second book, Uncle: Race, Nostalgia and the Politics of Race, which explores racial tropes using the figure of Uncle Tom, is scheduled for publication in 2021 by Coach House Books. In 2023, she launched Mapping Ontario's Black Archives, a digital platform providing open access to Black archival collections in Ontario.