Mwalim

Mwalim (Morgan James Peters I, born June 6, 1968), also known as "Mwalim *7", and Mwalim DaPhunkee Professor is an American artist, writer, and educator. He is an associate professor of English and director of African Americans studies at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.[1][2]

Early life

Born to a West Indian American (Barbados) mother and Mashpee Wampanoag father, Mwalim grew up in both the Northeast Bronx and Mashpee, Massachusetts. He studied music at Music & Art High School, and was interested in music and short-story writing from an early age. He went on to major in music composition and history at Boston University. During this time, he also worked as an intern and session musician at various recording studios around the city. He also became a part of the college's Black Drama Collective as a stage band musician and sketch writer. Mwalim joined New African Company in 1991, where he received his formal training in theater arts and management.

Career

After moving back to Cape Cod, Mwalim worked with a small group of local performers to co-found Oversoul Theatre Collective, Inc., and became the group's artistic director. He has used music, theater and storytelling as a platform to explore the Black and Native American experience; and the American phenomenon of having to choose one race, despite the rhetoric of the American melting pot. He has called himself a "Black Wampanoag."[3]

In 2000, Mwalim became a part of the Lincoln Center Theatre's Director's Lab program, and later held residencies at the Harlem Theatre Company, The Point CDC/Live From The Edge theater, and the Bronx Writer's Center, where he presented his original plays and performance pieces as well as taught workshops in creative writing, filmmaking and drama. His plays also began getting picked up for productions by various Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway theater groups as well as productions throughout the USA, Canada, the U.K. and the Caribbean.

His award-winning one-man show "A Party at the Crossroads" is subtitled the tales and adventures of a Black Indian growing up in a Jewish neighborhood, has been presented at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum in Connecticut and as a part of the Indian Summer series at the American Indian Community House in New York City. His performance piece, based on memories of Mashpee of the past, "Backwoods People" was presented at the 1999 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC. His romantic comedy, Working Things Out was a hit at the 2005 festival.

Mwalim became a professor of English and African American studies at UMass Dartmouth in 2003 and the Director of Black Studies (formerly African & African American Studies) in 2011. He sometimes calls himself "DaPhunkee Professor."[4]

According to Black Masks Magazine, Mwalim is considered a leading voice in the new generation of artists.[5]

Mwalim earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in July 2006. His focus was playwriting.He was recently named Filmmaker-In-Residence by WGBH, Bostons PBS television station, and will be the residency programs first narrative filmmaker, where he will be producing a film adaptation of Look At My Shorts, a collection of Mwalim's short plays exploring contemporary Black Indian experiences in Massachusetts.

Some of his musical recordings have won awards from the New England Urban Music Awards[6]

Discography

1. "Her Groove" 12' Single (1990 Midnight Groove Recordings)
2. "Voices Of My Ancestors" E.P. (1995, MFV Group)
3. "Thief In The Night" CD single (2000, Midnight Groove Recordings)
4. "Jazzy- Soul Club Grooves" E.P. (2001 Midnight Groove Recordings/ OTC Records)
5. "The Liberation Sessions" CD (2010 LMMGM/ Lore Music Group)
6. "DEEP Soul Chants & Hollers" CD (2012 LMMGM)
7. "Awakened By A Noon Day Sun" CD (2014 LMMGM/ Spirit Wind Records)
+ Mwalim appears on at east 50 other recordings as a musician, producer, and/or songwriter

References

  1. ↑ http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2011/05/07/13516-Professor-Morgan-James-Peters-NAACP-Educator-Year
  2. ↑ http://baystatebanner.com/news/2014/dec/30/black-native-americans-beginning-assert-identity/
  3. ↑ http://baystatebanner.com/news/2014/dec/30/black-native-americans-beginning-assert-identity/
  4. ↑ http://www.daphunkeeprofessor.com
  5. ↑ Black Masks Magazine, January/ February 2006 Issue, Vol. 17, No. 4; pg. 3
  6. ↑ https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/opinions/the-funk-and-jazz-of-morgan-james-peters/
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