Lilian Mengesha researches creative resistance to legacies of colonial violence. She is a PhD Candidate in Theater and Performance Studies at Brown University; during AY 2016-2017, she was a visiting fellow at MIT's Literature department. Through meditations on case studies of works by, for and about indigenous and mixed raced artists throughout North America, her dissertation examines the circulation of difficult affects, like disgust and refusal, within contemporary performance. She is also a practicing artist interested in time, memory, and puppets.