New Books Network Kellen Hoxworth, "Transoceanic Blackface: Empire, Race, Performance" (Northwestern UP, 2024)
Jan 20, 2026
Dr. Kellen Hoxworth, a professor at the University at Buffalo and author of *Transoceanic Blackface*, discusses the global history of racialized performance and its ties to imperialism. He explores the cultural intersections of blackface beyond the U.S., tracing its origins in 18th-century British theater. Hoxworth delves into the adaptation of minstrelsy across empires, analyzing the complexities of performances like Jim Crow and Othello burlesques. He also addresses how these performances reflect and shape racial and gender anxieties throughout history.
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Blackface As Transoceanic Phenomenon
- Blackface performance circulated beyond the United States across the British imperial world from the 18th century onward.
- Kellen Hoxworth argues race circulated transoceanically through theatrical and popular culture, not just nationally.
18th-Century Servant Characters Prefigure Minstrelsy
- 18th-century British comic Black servants shaped later racialized stage tropes.
- These roles naturalized white supremacy by restoring racial order in comic plots.
Jim Crow's Transatlantic Tour
- Thomas Dartmouth Rice's Jim Crow toured London and became globally popular in the 1830s.
- Local adaptations like South Africa's Keki Kekkelback reworked Jim Crow for regional debates about emancipation.
