Dr Nkululeko Sibanda

Dr Nkululeko Sibanda is a Senior Lecturer in the Drama Department at Rhodes University, South Africa. He is currently a visiting fellow collaborating with Professor Rebekah Lee at the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford under the Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx) Visiting Fellowship programme.

Dr Sibanda’s research explores the intersection of theatre, memory, and social justice, with a particular focus on Zimbabwean historical narratives and the politics of performance. His work includes extensive publications on cultural resistance in post-independence Zimbabwe, examining how theatre is used to engage with complex issues such as the Gukurahundi massacres. Dr Sibanda holds a PhD in Drama and Performance Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and his expertise has earned him appointments on editorial boards, including Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance and Cogent Arts and Humanities.

During his fellowship at Oxford, Dr Sibanda’s project, “Verbatim Theatre, Oral Narratives, and Gukurahundi Cultures of Violence in Zimbabwe,” will investigate how theatre can serve as a space for the narratives of Gukurahundi survivors. His research aims to document these testimonies through verbatim theatre, creating a platform for marginalized voices to contribute to Zimbabwe’s cultural memory and inform future policy on historical justice.

• Sibanda, N. 2022. Cultural Politics and Cultural Violence during Gukurahundi in Matabeleland. African Critical Studies, 14 (2); 128-152: https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2022.2074487
• Sibanda, N. 2022. Narratives of resistance in Amakhosi Theatre Production’s Workshop Negative, South African Theatre Journal, DOI: 10.1080/10137548.2022.2031265
• Mpofu, M and Sibanda, N. 2023. Music, Performance and ZANU PF’s hegemony in Mugabe’s newly independent Zimbabwe. Journal of African Media Studies 15 (1); 27 – 47; https://doi.org/10.1386/jams_00091_1
• Sibanda, N and Moyo, C. 2021. Resistance, struggle and protest against genocide and incarceration: The case of Talitha Koum – Someone lied! and 1983 – Years Before and After. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 26 (3); 427-441. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2021.1935839
• Sibanda, N. 2022. Theatres of Struggle in post-Mugabe Zimbabwe. In O. Nyambi, T. Mangena, and G. Ncube (Eds). Cultures of Change in Contemporary Zimbabwe Socio-Political Transition from Mugabe to Mnangagwa (67-83). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003190271
• Mpofu, M., Moyo, C, and Sibanda, N. 2021. Popular Theatre as a Struggle for Identity and Representation in Matabeleland: 1980 to the Present. In S. Ravengai and O. Seda (eds.), Theatre from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, Contemporary Performance InterActions (169 – 191). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74594-3