Josh HamZ is a performance artist, scholar, and coach who engages in critical ethnographic methods and remixed performance techniques.
With these tools, Josh excavates how we foster community and critique power dynamics through live, digital, and ritual performances.
Recent News:
-New show: “Dead Mom Jokes” debuts in 2026!
-Tour: “Burnt City” leaves 2025 and heads to 2026-27!
-Interview: Al Jazeera English chat about the Iron Sheik
-Webinar: College & Career Readiness with edWeb
-New publications: Book and article details soon!
Recognition and Honors
Unsung Hero Faculty Recognition Award
SRJC Academic Senate
Outstanding Article in Performance Studies
CSCA Performance Studies & Autoethnography Division
Club Advisor of the Year
SRJC Inter-Club Council
2025 & 2024
New Coach of the Year Award
Northern California Forensics Association
Best Journal Article Award--Ethnography
NCA Ethnography Division
Outstanding Visual Project Award
International Association of Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry
CSCA Outstanding Article in Autoethnography
CSCA Performance Studies & Autoethnography Division
2023 & 2022
New Directions Award: Individual
American Anthropological Association General Anthropology Division
Marion Kleinau National Scripting Award
SIU Carbondale Department of Communication Studies
Outstanding New Teacher Award
Iowa Communication Association
Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award
Lone Star College—University Park
Best Dissertation Award--Ethnography
NCA Ethnography Division
2021 & 2020
Marie J. Robinson Outstanding Graduate Student in Performance Studies
NCA Performance Studies Division, 2018
Outstanding New Forensics Coach Award
American Forensics Association, 2016
Outstanding Adjunct Teacher Award
Iowa Communication Association, 2013
Performances & Tours
For two decades, Josh has toured solo and ensemble performance projects, paired with innovative workshops and experiences, in 30 states. Including:
COMING SOON: Dead Mom Jokes
Burnt City: A Dystopian Bilingual One-Persian Show
Baton Rouge SLAM!: An Obituary for Summer 2016
The Deported: A Reality Show!
CONVICT: The Age of Incarceration
Renowned: Osama Lives On!
Speak Out!: Performance Ethnography
The Worst of the Worst: Performances of Guantanamo Bay
Publications & Scholarship
Josh has published award-winning academic and creative scholarship in the areas of performance studies, slam poetry, and forensics speech, in refereed journals like Text & Performance Quarterly, Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal, Florida Communication Journal, and the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal. Residencies, workshops, and speaking engagements offered.
Pedagogy & Coaching
As Director of Santa Rosa Junior College’s Forensics Speech, Debate, and Performance Team, a top program in the country, and former Director of University of Northern Iowa's top-10 in the nation forensics speech program, Josh has spent 20 years focusing on quality, creativity, advocacy, and personal connection to make sure researching, writing, and performance skills last beyond the stage, office, and classroom. Josh has coached nationally-ranked teams, finalists, and champions, specializing in creativity and connection.
Josh has taught over 175 Performance and Communication Studies courses, and guided over 3,000 students at public universities, community colleges, and in forensics by embracing critical methods of performance engagement within the safety of a creative, supportive, and energized environment.