The Heart Behind the Work
Meet Dr. Asantewa Sunni-Ali
I am a mother, wife, scholar, educator, performing artist, director, producer and playwright.
I currently serve as Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Kent State University where I teach courses exploring Black history, art and culture including Black Experience, Black Images and Black Hollywood. My educational background includes an AAS in Theatre Management, a BA in Africana Studies, an MA in African American Studies, and a PhD in Theatre for Youth.
I created Seedz of Revolution in 2016 as a multimedia platform to document and share cultural practices and revolutionary strategies as tools for constructing a liberated future for African descended and other populations struggling against systems of oppression. I manage production logistics and work with research participants, creative talent, and production members to bring stories emerging from my research to life on screen. I also serve as executive producer and host of podcast, Seedz of Revolution: Daughters of the Whirlwind.
From the (Research) Field to the People
My research lies within intersections of Black childhood, performance, agency, and liberation. Qualitative, decolonizing, indigenous and ontologically rooted research methodologies guide my critical role as ethnographic researcher, producing findings that are comprehensive and in service to those researched.
In alignment with Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s assertion that research must serve and uplift the communities it engages, I center practices that ensure my work has a positive, tangible impact on those whose lives and stories shape it.
My research outcomes manifest in a variety of ways:
academic publications (essays, articles, and book chapters), documentary film series, podcast production, photography, interactive workshops, plays, and theatrical performance.
Art as Witness, Art as Map
Raised by activist-musician parents, I was immersed in living art that stirred the soul and sparked transformation. From my first Broadway play—a powerful story about race and class—I felt called not only to witness, but to tell stories of my own.
My creative work—spanning theatre, documentary film, and performance—draws from lived experience, a commitment to justice, and a deep belief in art’s ability to foster human connection. Whether on stage or on screen, I approach storytelling as a sacred act, a mirror of collective memory and a portal to imagined futures.
In devising theatre and producing film, I value both process and product as openings for community dialogue and healing. These works blur boundaries between artist and audience, illuminating the ideologies shaping our lives.
As playwright, director, filmmaker, and performer, I center marginalized voices and engage cross-cultural exchange. Fusing traditional and experimental forms, I aim to create art that awakens, inspires, and calls us into the intimate work of progressive transformation.
Pedagogy in Practice
Over the past 15 years, I’ve taught and mentored students from pre-kindergarten to graduate school. My university courses span Africana Studies, Theatre, Film, Performance Studies, and Communications. In primary and secondary education, I’ve taught theatre, directed school plays and cultural events, led after-school arts programs, and taught core subjects in summer enrichment camps.
As a university professor, I design learning experiences that prioritize critical thinking, cultural relevance, and the integration of theory and practice. I see teaching as guiding—providing access to knowledge rather than positioning myself as the sole source. My pedagogy rests on four key principles:
- Teaching is a form of guided inquiry.
- Social and culturally relevant curriculum affirms identity and fosters cross-cultural engagement.
- Learning is an evolving process, not a fixed outcome.
- Praxis—merging theory and lived experience—is essential to transformative learning.
In my classroom, students engage diverse texts and identity-based activities to examine systems of oppression and their own social positions. Through critical, creative, and self-reflective work, they develop tools to analyze the world and actively construct their own knowledge.
I create spaces that are emergent, responsive, and grounded in community. This approach allows for ongoing feedback and adaptation, fostering collective growth and mutual learning. Though this work is complex and deeply relational, it offers what both my students and I seek in the learning space: transformation through shared inquiry, cultural affirmation, and purposeful engagement.