Alumni Spotlight: Tauriq Jenkins ’15

The Alumni Spotlight is a place to hear from the School of the Arts alumni community about their journeys as artists and creators.

Tauriq Jenkins ’15 is a Khoi Leader, activist, artist, and academic. Tauriq was a founding director of the Independent Theatre Movement of South Africa, and Shakespeare In Prison South Africa, which trained actors in South African prisons. He is currently the interim chair of the South African Palestinian Arts and Culture Coalition, and Convenor of Save our Sacred Lands Campaign, a campaign that aims to protect heritage under threat for First Nations, including San and Khoi communities. Tauriq holds an MFA from Columbia University and was an International Foreign Policy Fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He was the Archie Mafeje PhD fellow at the Centre for African Studies at University of Cape Town. Tauriq has served as a Section 11 Human Rights Monitor for the South African Human Rights Commission. He is a Human Rights Defender for Frontline Defenders, The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, which has Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC of the UN. He is passionate about chess, writes poetry, and poetry on chess. Tauriq is currently working on Shakespeare to Gaza, a production in collaboration with the Ashtar Theatre, based in Ramallah, with South African actors.  

Was there a specific faculty member or peer who especially inspired you while at the School of the Arts? If so, who and how?

The faculty at the SOA has had a significance in my life. The late and beloved Professor Kristin Linklater taught me about a free, natural, and liberated voice. That art, activism, and politics co-exist, and the quality of expression lie in the specifics of an ongoing and embodied encounter with what surrounds one and our histories. I was the faculty assistant to Professor Christian Parker, who encouraged an interest in critical thinking and dramaturgy.

How did attending the School of the Arts impact your work and career as an artist?

That a human being is by nature interdisciplinary and harnessing a wide set of expertise will deepen the reflexivity and authenticity of one's personal engagement with issues that matter in this world.

What were the most pressing social/political issues on the minds of the students when you were here?

The US elections. Human rights issues such as anti-repression against black and indigenous bodies. Gender-based violence. Concerns on a growing right and white supremacy. I am very proud of our current students who have stood up against the tyranny of injustice against the genocide unfolding in Palestine in the face of severe pressure. The same way alumni did during the Anti-Apartheid struggle to end fascist oppression in South Africa. I wish you only love and solidarity.

What was your favorite or most memorable class while at the School of the Arts?

For me, I could see the extraordinary and generous confluencing of faculty members' influence in each other's own work, so each class in a way was collectively yet uniquely brilliantly curated. The enigmatic presence of Ulla Woltz, with Anne Bogart's groundbreaking "view points" work on kinesthetics, together with Kristin Linklater and Andrea Harring's vocal work, created the memorable class that I believe has shaped a generation of artists.

What were the first steps you took after graduating?

Having had the opportunity to continue a journey of education at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) as a Fellow in the International Fellows Program (IFP) focussed on US Foreign Policy, I then enrolled in the MA programme in Oral History at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. I was part of the Harlem Shakespeare Company and performed the role of Ira Aldridge in the Sable Shakespeare Series based on the civil rights movement and Shakespeare. I worked and participated in the annual program that SOA hosts with Global Leadership Fellows of the World Economic Forum with Professor Andrea Haring, and directed a series of Black History Month productions at International House in New York while a resident there.

What advice would you give to recent graduates? 

"The readiness is all, let be" - Shakespeare. Pivot your art on what is justly needed, anchor your politics with your art, and prove your actions on both.