Elaigwu Ameh

Elaigwu Ameh is a PhD candidate in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University. He holds an MA in Performing and Media Arts from Cornell University and an MA in Development Communication from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He is a recipient of the Arrupe College Book Prize for graduating with a First Class in his BA (Hons.) Philosophy programme at the University of Zimbabwe, Harare. His doctoral research explores the lived realities of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria. He is a recipient of many grants, including Public Humanities New York Fellowship, HASTAC fellowship, Sage Fellowship, the Elizabeth Worman Award, Cornell’s Engaged Graduate Student Grant, the Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop Grant, the Bouchet Honors Society Award, and Cornell’s Research Travel Grant. His publications include plays, poems, short stories, social commentaries, and academic essays. His short story, “Vagina Protest,” won the 2010 Centre for Human Development/Ford Foundation Writing Competition (prose category), while his climate change–centered play, Climate of Change, emerged third in the Association of Nigerian Authors 2011 drama contest. The play also got a production grant from the United Nations Development Program. In Zimbabwe, Nigeria, India, and the US, he has employed theatre as a laboratory for promoting positive change in society. Inspired by his work with underrepresented populations such as prisoners, refugees, leprosy patients, and immigrant farmworkers, Elaigwu now aspires to a career in research and teaching in which he will employ theatre to promote societal reorientation and the common good.