KUUKUA DZIGBORDI YOMEKPE
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Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe characterizes herself as a trans-disciplinary artist, choreographing West African dance forms, creating western versions of Ghanaian recipes, and penning memoirs, essays, and social commentaries. Her scholarly and writing interests lie at the intersection of race and skin color, African culture, Black women’s bodies, expression of voice, and non-conformance. All her work is influenced by her education and socialization in Africanist, feminist, and post-colonial theories, and Liberation Theology and Goddess Thealogy.
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EDUCATION
California Institute of Integral Studies, Berkeley, CA
Master’s in Fine Arts in Writing and Consciousness (TBA)
Master’s Thesis: The Coal Pot: One African Woman’s Journey Towards Self-Discovery
Thesis Advisors: Carolyn Cooke and Faith Adiele
Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA
Masters in Theological Studies (MTS) in Religion & Psychology, May 2010
Certificate in Sexuality and Religion awarded by Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
Certificate in Women’s Studies and Religion awarded by Graduate Theological Union
Thesis: The Audacity to Remain Single: The Single Black Woman and the Black Church
Thesis Directors: Archie Smith and Jay Johnson
University of Dayton, Dayton, OH
MA in English, Dec. 2003
Synthesis Paper and Comprehensive Essay focus: Agency in Female Protagonists in North African Women Authors
Thesis Advisor: Faiza Shereen
Ohio Dominican College, Columbus, OH.
BA in English, May 2000
PUBLICATIONS
“Musings of an African Woman.” Blog. July 2010-Present
“Behavioral Health Unit” Queermentalhealth.org. Online. August 2015.
“On the Business of Choosing Dears” Holaafrica. Online. June 2015.
“Where is Your Husband?” Writing Fire: An Anthology of the Power of Women’s Voices. May 2015.
“Ralph and Jeanette Rotondo Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage.” “Sonsini Family Keep Italian Traditions Alive in the Berkshires.” Berkshire Mosaic: A Multicultural Bridge Living History Project. Berkshire Eagle and Multicultural Bridge collaboration. October 2014 & May 2015.
“An African Woman’s Lot in Life” This Is Africa. Online. August 2014.
“The Covered Wagon” Pentimento Magazine. June 2014.
“All Because of a Name!” “I am Beautiful the Way God Made Me!“Digging Through the Fat. Online. April 2014.
“Scotch Bonnets are not for the Faint-Hearted.”Essay on Spoonwiz. Online. October 2013.
“Race and the Invisible Cloak of Black.” The Feminist Wire. Online. September 2013.
“Feed People; Heal Schisms.” Essay on Spoonwiz. Online. August 2013.
“My Body,” “Arrival Day,” and “You.” All essays in Fierce Hunger: Writing from the Intersection of Trauma and Desire. March 2013.
“All About Color: AWP 2012 Recap in Chicago” VONA Voices Newsletter June 2012.
“Traversing Waters…Bodies of” Conversation Across Borders Project. Online. April 2012.
“Old White People.” MOOT Magazine. Online. April 2012.
“Not Just a Phase: Single Black Women in the Black Church.” Queer Religion. Praeger. December 2011.
“Inhabiting the Inter-Spaces.” Logos. Pacific School of Religion. August 2010.
“Excerpts from a Memoir in Progress—All Because of a Name, I am Beautiful the Way God Made Me, Immigrants in a Foreign Land. All essays in African Women Writing Resistance. University of Wisconsin Press. Aug. 2010.
“The Coal Pot.” Essay in In Your Ear: Selected Writing from Oakland Word. July 2010
“Becoming Bi: The First Time.” Poem in Bisexual Voices from Around the World. June 2009.
“CTA Meets the Black Catholic Congress.” Church Watch. Call to Action. October 2002.
“A Call to Action.” The Difference. University of Dayton. November 2001.
“Take Time.” Gesture. Ohio Dominican College. December 1998.
CONFERENCES
Participant. 44th & 45th Annual Conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Chicago, Illinois.
“Writing Sexuality.” Moderator. 3rd Conference of Organization of Women Writers Association: Yari Yari Ntoaso, Continuing the Dialogue. Accra, Ghana.
“African Women Writing Resistance: Contemporary Voices Localizing the Global.” Panelist. 37th Annual African Literature Association: African Literature, Visual Arts and Film in Local and Transnational Spaces. Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.
“African Women Writing/Righting the World.” Panelist. 10th Annual International Women’s Day: Women Write the World. Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
“African Women Writing Resistance: Voices from the Diaspora.” Panelist. 53rd Annual Meeting African Studies Association. San Francisco, California.
“Of Lighthouses and Libraries: History ReLit.” Annual African Literature Association Conference. Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt.
INTERVIEWS
“On the Bridge: Ghanaian Writer Leads her Community” “Reclaiming: Learning from Kuukua and her Sisters (I)” “Reclaiming (II)” “Reclaiming and Resistance (III)” Berkshire Eagle and Multicultural Bridge collaboration. By Margot Welch. June 2014.
(March –May 2013, Ghana, West Africa)
Yari Yari Ntoaso: Continuing the Dialogue (Reading and Q&A) Uniiq FM
Yari Yari Ntoaso: Continuing the Dialogue (Reading and Q&A) Radio Univers
Meet the Writer (Reading and Q&A) eTV
Women of the World: Talking About a Revolution (Reading and Q&A) Viasat-1 TV
Meet the Writer (Interview) ACCRA Dot ALT Radio
International Women’s Day Writer Spotlight (Interview) African Women’s Development Fund blog
Conversation with Nana Fredua Agyeman (Interview) freduagyeman.blogspot.com
READINGS
Writers Salon (Reading) sponsored by Mamle Kabu April 2013 (Accra, Ghana)
Meet the Writers (Discussion Forum) sponsored by African Women’s Development Fund
(International Women’s Day Celebrations) March 2013 (Accra, Ghana)
Women of the World: Talking About a Revolution (Reading) March 2013 (Accra, Ghana)
Writers Project on Citi FM (Reading and Radio Interview)—
November 2012, August 2011 & August 2010 (Accra, Ghana)
MFA Showcase at California Institute of Integral Studies (Reading) May 2012
(San Francisco, CA)
Ghana Voices Series (Reading and Q&A) August 31, 2011 (Accra, Ghana)
A Reading and Literary Conversation May 2011 (Berkeley, CA)
MFA Works in Progress at California Institute of Integral Studies (Reading)
April 30, 2011 (San Francisco, CA)
Bay Area MFA Mixer (Reading) April 2011 (San Francisco, CA)
Oakland Word Anthology Release (Reading) July 2010 (Oakland, CA)
Voices of Our Nation (VONA) at University of San Francisco (Reading) June 2010
(San Francisco, CA)
PRESENTATIONS
How to be a “Real Writer.” SOS Hermann Gmeiner College. April 2013 (Tema, Ghana)
Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck May 2012 SoMA Arts Series (San Francisco, CA)
The Heart of Writing SOS Hermann Gmeiner College. November 2011 (Tema, Ghana)
Dancing Your Way Across the Page: A Writing Workshop— (Dance and Writing Presentation)
April-May 2011 (Berkeley, CA)
RESIDENCIES & WORKSHOPS
Golden Crown Literary Society’s Mentoring Program
Mentors: Lee Lynch and Ann McMan March-June 2013 (Online)
Writing the Flood, Writing Ourselves Whole Participant
(Amherst Writers & Artists Workshop) 2010-2012 (San Francisco, CA)
Creative Writing Workshop with Pat Schneider (Participant)
(Amherst Writers & Artists Workshop) June 2010 (Berkeley, CA)
VONA Residency with Minal Hajratwala, University of California, June 2012 (Berkeley, CA)
VONA Residency with Evelina Galang, University of San Francisco, June 2010
(San Francisco, CA)
Oakland Word: Writing the Word, Writing the World, Oakland Public Library workshops
(Fiction & Non-Fiction) April-May 2010 (Oakland, CA)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
English Composition & Literature IGCSE Faculty. SOS Hermann Gmeiner College. August-December 2011. (Tema, Ghana)
Writer in Residence & Founder of Writer’s Corner. SOS Hermann Gmeiner College. August-December 2011. (Tema, Ghana)
First Year Composition. University of Dayton English Department. (Dayton, OH)
AFFILIATIONS
Association of Writers and Writing Programs
African Literature Association
Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
Writing Ourselves Whole
CURRENT PROJECTS
Cultural Food Writing, Spoonwiz Online Magazine. August 2013-Present
Etornam’s Story, an adolescent novel. Submission for Burt Award 2014
The Coal Pot: One African Woman’s Journey to Self-Discovery, Memoir. May 2011-Present
Musings of an African Woman, Blog. July 2010-Present
Musings of An African Woman 