91滴滴

In 2023, Dr. Cheryl was promoted to Associate Professor in Performance at 91滴滴 (formerly Ryerson University). She joined the School as Assistant Professor in 2022. She was previously faculty in Creative Industries (2018-2021). She is the author of  . Dr. Thompson is currently director of Black Creative Lab, which extends the pedagogy of THF470: Black Creative Practices, an open elective course that unpacks Black creative origins, forms, and styles. Black Creative Lab's projects include, MobaProjects, is a digital mapping of Black archival collections in Ontario; BREC, a collection and database that catalogues blackface as performance and Black community's resistance to it across time and space. 

In 2021, Dr. Thompson was a recipient of an Ontario Early Researcher Award (2021-26) titled, 鈥淢apping Ontario鈥檚 Black Archives Through Storytelling,鈥� this project aims to catalogue Ontario鈥檚 Black archival collections, and through ethnographic interviews with the province鈥檚 creative community, collect stories about the collections that will culminate with a public exhibition curated by Dr. Thompson and her research team. In addition to publishing in academic journals, magazines, and newspapers, Dr. Thompson has also appeared on numerous podcasts and media platforms in Canada and internationally. Dr. Thompson holds a PhD in Communication Studies from McGill University. She previously held a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Toronto鈥檚 Centre for Theatre, Drama & Performance Studies, and the University of Toronto Mississauga鈥檚 Department of English & Drama. In 2021, Dr. Thompson was named to the Royal Society of Canada鈥檚 College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

• Theatre & Performance Studies
• Black Beauty Culture & Fashion
• Archives & Archiving Practices
• Black Canadian History & Culture
• African American History & Culture
• Visual Culture & Photography
• Black Dance & Music Culture
• Advertising & Consumer Culture
• Critical Digital Technologies
• Black Feminist Media Studies
• Celebrity & Promotional Culture

鈥淢apping Ontario鈥檚 Black Archives Through Storytelling鈥�
Ontario Government Early Researcher Award, (2021-2026), $190,000
Project Director

鈥淲hite Skin, Black Masks: Canada's Blackface Secret鈥�
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Connection Grant (2020-2022), $47,625
Co-applicant, Pink Moon Studio

鈥淣ewspapers, Minstrelsy and Black Performance at the Theatre: Mapping the Spaces of Nation-Building in Toronto, 1870s to 1930s鈥�
SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2019-2022), $48,072
Principal Investigator

鈥淣ewspapers, Theatres, and the Spaces of Black Performance in Toronto鈥�
The Creative School SRC Seed Grant (2018-2019), $6880
Principal Investigator

"Creating Public Access to Black Archives and the Performing Arts"                                                                                             Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Cananda (SSHRC) Connection Grant (2022-2023), $42.336

Industry Collaborations:

, a Procter & Gamble hair care product line designed for afro-textured hair. In partnership with , a Toronto-based PR-led creative communications agency, and in collaboration with , a Toronto-based, youth-led organization we co-created the #MyHairMyStory campaign (launched January 21, 2021).

Co-Producer/Narrator, Blackface Nation (feature film, in-production), co-producers, Pink Moon Studio, Toronto (forthcoming, 2023).

Books:

Thompson, Cheryl. Canada and the Blackface Atlantic. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press (writing; anticipated 2024).

Thompson, Cheryl. Uncle: Race, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Loyalty. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2021.

Thompson, Cheryl. Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada鈥檚 Black Beauty Culture. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2019.

 

Edited Books and Journals:

Thompson, Cheryl & Campbell, Miranda (Eds.). Creative Industries in Canada. Vancouver: Canadian Scholars Press (2022). 

Thompson, Cheryl (Guest Ed.), Special Issue on 鈥淏lack Canadian Creativity, Expressive Cultures, and Narratives of Space and Place.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;The Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire 56 3 (Winter 2021): 213-380.

 

Journal Articles:

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淏lack Canadians in the Journal of Canadian Communication: Is there a Problem with Speaking for Others?鈥� Canadian Journal of Communication Special Issue, On the Margins of the Margins: Racism and Colonialism in Canadian Communication Studies (47) 3 (2022): 440-461. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0029. 

Thompson, Cheryl. "Casting Blackface in Canada: Unmasking the History of 'White and Black' Minstrel Shows." Canadian Theatre Review (In-press)

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥滲lack Creativity, Expressive Cultures, and Narratives of Space and Place.鈥� Special Issue on 鈥淏lack Canadian Creativity, Expressive Cultures, and Narratives of Space and Place,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;The Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire 56 3 (Winter 2021): 213-215.

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淏lack Minstrelsy on Canadian Stages: Nostalgia for Plantation Slavery in the 19th and 20th Centuries.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, (31) 1 (2021): 67-94. . **Winner, The CHA Journal Prize for **

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淭he Show Did Go On: How Theatre Changed After the Last Pandemic.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Canadian Theatre Review, 127 (Summer 2021): 91-93. .

Thompson, Cheryl. "" Journal of Critical Race Inquiry (8) 1 (2021): 22-41. 

Thompson, Cheryl & Jabouin, Emilie. 鈥淏lack Media Reporting on Theater, Dance, and Jazz Clubs in Canada: From Shuffle Along to Rockhead鈥檚 Paradise.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Journal of Communication Inquiry (0) 0 (2021): 1-21. .

Thompson, Cheryl.  Fashion Studies (3) 1 (2020): 1-24. 

Thompson, Cheryl. Les Ateliers de l'茅thique/Ethics Forum, special issue The Ethical Challenges of Recovering Historical Memory (14) 2 (2020): 76-106. 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淯ncle Tom鈥檚 Cabin Historic Site and Creolization: The Material and Visual Culture of Archival Memory,鈥� African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal (2019), .

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淟ocating 鈥楧ixie鈥� in Newspaper Discourse and Theatrical Performance in Toronto, 1880s to 1920s.鈥� Canadian Review of American Studies (49) 2 (2019): 205-25. . **Canadian Association for American Studies, 2019 Honorable Mention, **

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淩ethinking the Archive in the Public Sphere.鈥� Roundtable on History for Non-Historians, Canadian Journal of History / Annales canadiennes d鈥檋istoire 54 1-2 (2019): 32-8, .

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淚鈥檚 in Town, Honey鈥�: Reading Aunt Jemima Advertising in Canadian Print Media, 1919 to 1962.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Journal of Canadian Studies 49 1 (Winter 2015): 205-37. .

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淐ultivating Narratives of Race, Faith, and Community: The Dawn of Tomorrow, 1923鈥�1971.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Canadian Journal of History / Annales canadiennes d鈥檋istoire 50 1 (2015): 30-67. 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淣eoliberalism, Soul Food, and the Weight of Black Women.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Feminist Media Studies 15 5 (2015), 794-812. .

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淐ontesting the Aunt Jemima Trademark through Feminist Art: Why is she still smiling?鈥� n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal, 31 (2013): 65鈥�72. **No longer in print, see https://www.drcherylthompson.com.**

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淏lack Women and Hair as a Matter of Being.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Women鈥檚 Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 38 8 (2009): 831-856. DOI: 10.1080/00497870903238463. 

 

Book Chapters:

Thompson, Cheryl & Crooks, Julie. 鈥淩ace, Community, and the Picturing of Identities: Photography and the Black Subject in Ontario, 1860 to 1900.鈥� In Unsettling the Great White North: African Canadian History, 433-454. Michele A. Johnson and Funk茅 Aladejebi, Eds. Toronto: Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and Its Diasporas (2022). 

Thompson, Cheryl & Wowk, Lucy. 鈥�The Globe and Daily Star Report on Spanish Flu, 1918-19: Reading Toronto鈥檚 Response to the Pandemic鈥檚 Second Wave.鈥� In Pandemics & Epidemics in Cultural Representation. Sathyaraj Venkatesan, et al., Eds. London: Springer Nature (2022). 

Thompson, Cheryl. "The Patty: The Jamaican Staple Turned Diasporic Street Food." What We Talk 91滴滴 When We Talk 91滴滴 Dumplings. John Lorinc, Ed. Toronto: Coach House Books (In-press).

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淗ow Photojournalism Challenged Anti-Black Racism in 1970s Toronto.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;In Call and Response-ability: Black Canadian Works of Art and the Politics of Relation. Karina Vernon and Winfried Siemerling, Eds. Montreal: McGill-Queen鈥檚 (In-press). 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淏rand Advertising in Contrast in the 1970s: Selling Race and Culture Through Beer.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;In Canada鈥檚 19th Century Black Press: Roots and Trajectories of Exceptional Communication and Intellectual Activism. Claudine Bonner, Nina Reid-Maroney, and Boulou Ebanda de B'b茅ri, Eds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (In-press).

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淩epresenting Misogynoir in Canadian News Media: From BLMTO to Marci Ien.鈥� In Women in Popular Culture in Canada. Laine Zisman Newman, Ed, 26-41. Toronto: Canadian Scholar/Women鈥檚 Press, 2020. 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淢y Ten-Year Dreadlock Journey: Why I Love the 鈥榢ink鈥� in My Hair鈥� Today.鈥� In Body Battlegrounds: Transgressions, Tensions, and Transformations. Samantha Kwan and Chris Bobel, Eds., pp. 54-55. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2019.

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淎n Intersectional Analysis of Controlling Images and Neoliberal Meritocracy on Scandal and Empire.鈥� In Neoliberalism and the U.S. Media. Marian Joanne Meyers, Ed., pp. 176-91. New York: Routledge, 2019. 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淐ome One, Come All鈥�: Blackface Minstrelsy as a Canadian Tradition and Early Form of Popular Culture.鈥� In Towards an African-Canadian Art History: Art, Memory, and Resistance. Charmaine Nelson, Ed., pp. 95-121. Concord, Ontario: Captus Press, 2018. 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淭he New Afro in a Postfeminist Media Culture: Rachel Dolezal, Beyonc茅鈥檚 鈥楩ormation,鈥� and the Politics of Choice.鈥� In Emergent Feminisms: Challenging a Post-Feminist Media Culture. Jessalynn Keller and Maureen Ryan, Eds., 161-175. New York: Routledge, 2018. 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淪earching for Black Voices in Canada鈥檚 Archives: The Invisibility of a 鈥榁isible鈥� Minority.鈥� PUBLIC: Art/Culture/Ideas, Special Issue on Archive/Anarchive/Counter-Archive. May Chew, Susan Lord, Janine Marchessault, Eds., pp. 82-89. Toronto: York University, 2018. 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥淩emembering Uncle Tom鈥檚 Cabin.鈥� In The Ward Uncovered: The Archeology of Everyday Life. Michael McClelland, Holly Martelle, Tatum Taylor and John Lorinc, (Eds.), pp. 156-162. Toronto: Coach House Books/Alana Wilcox, 2018.

 

Online Publications: 

Ongoing Columns

 

Commentaries:

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�.鈥� Heliotrope (April 6, 2022).

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Geist Magazine. 119 (2022): 54-57.

Thompson, Cheryl. "." Canada鈥檚 History. 102.2 (2022): 20-27.

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Toronto.com (Nov. 4, 2021). 

Thompson, Cheryl & Jabouin, Emilie. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Ryerson Library (Feb. 3, 2021). 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Drcherylthompson.com blog (May 25, 2020). 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;New York Times (Oct. 23, 2019).

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Archivehistory (Oct. 7, 2019).

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;The National (Sept. 26, 2019). 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Toronto Star (Sept. 19, 2019).

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;Gardiner Museum blog (July 11, 2019).

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥� The Halifax Coast (June 21, 2018). 

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�,鈥�&苍产蝉辫;GUTS Magazine (Feb. 26, 2018).

Thompson, Cheryl. 鈥�.鈥� Herizons, 30.2 (Summer 2016): 40-42.