Joanna Dee Das

Joanna Dee Das (PhD, History) is an Associate Professor of Performing Arts and an affiliate of American Culture Studies, African and African-American Studies, and History at Washington University in St. Louis. She writes about dance, musical theater, variety entertainment, country music, and how those cultural forms have played a role in several social and political movements, including the long Black Freedom Struggle, decolonization, modern conservatism, and the Religious Right. She is the author of KATHERINE DUNHAM: DANCE AND THE AFRICAN DIASPORA (Oxford, 2017) and FAITH, FAMILY, AND FLAG: BRANSON ENTERTAINMENT AND THE IDEA OF AMERICA (Chicago, 2025).