Assistant Professor Luke Williams is an interdisciplinary scholar, artist, organizer and critic of 20th- and 21st-century Black diasporic performance and visual cultures. His in-progress manuscript In the Black: Figures of Racial Capitalism examines the practices of four Black emerging artists as they navigate the pressures of racial capitalism in the art market. The project charts how these artists adopted performative and aesthetic strategies of refusal to reorient frameworks of value when Black figuration sold for a market premium. Through this project and others, Williams queries narratives of freedom and the radical imagination. He is the editor of Blood, Sweat, and Time: Emerging Perspectives on Mildred Howard and Adrian Burrell, published by Sming Sming Books and the Institute of Contemporary Art San José. Williams holds a Ph.D. in Modern Thought & Literature from Stanford University, where he was a Diversifying Academia, Recruiting Excellence (DARE) fellow. He received a B.A. in Political & Social Thought as a Jefferson scholar at the University of Virginia.
Tell us about the classes you’ll be teaching this year.
This year, I will be co-teaching TD 311C with a fantastic bunch of colleagues in PPP [Performance as Public Practice]. I think students will find it an excellent introduction to the work that we do and also an opportunity to tackle some fascinating contemporary questions.
What attracted you to the Department of Theatre and Dance and The University of Texas at Austin?
I’m honored to be a part of the Department of Theatre and Dance at UT. As a Dallas native, I’m well aware of UT’s outstanding reputation and impact nationally. The T&D department in particular has a rich tradition in that regard, which is meaningful to my work and to me. The important question for us to ask ourselves is what we are learning and doing to make the world a better place for everyone. I think this community has been pushing toward that goal for a long time.
What’s something that students and colleagues should know about you?
Even though I’m coming in as a professor, I really want to learn as much as possible. I’m always trying to learn new perspectives, ideas and hobbies. I hope people will stop by and tell me about themselves. I find a lot of purpose in discovery. Perhaps I learned that from Star Trek, which is my favorite TV franchise.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not teaching/researching/working?
I’ve recently found a passion for several hobbies, including comic books, cooking new recipes and playing basketball. I look forward to cheering on the Longhorns in all sports and extracurricular activities.