Salim Washington is the inaugural International Visiting Professor of African American and African
Diasporic Studies at Columbia University. Prof Washington is also a cluster leader/ HOD (head of
department) of Performing Arts, and a Professor at University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (Durban, South
Africa). Composer & reedsman, he performs on the flute, tenor saxophone, oboe, and bass clarinet.
He also studied other instruments including mbira and hand drums.
Prof Washington is a widely published scholar of black culture and music. His interests include the
Black Atlantic, Afro futurism, Jazz and other vernacular musics, Diasporic film and literature.
Washington is now completing the following titles: Beautiful Nightmare: John Coltrane, Jazz, and
American Culture and Notes from Mzansi: The South African Jazz Imaginary.
Salim performing at the Pan African Space Station in Cape Town, South Africa 2021