Nware Rahsaan Burge – PhD.(c) - M.S.Ed./BA
Professor/ High School Teacher/ Filmmaker
Nware Rahsaan Burge is currently a PhD candidate, an Adjunct Professor at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, as well as a History and Special Education High School teacher in Newark, New jersey and an Award-Winning Documentary Filmmaker. Nware holds a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts/Political Science from Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York as well as a Master’s degree in Education from Brooklyn College, in Brooklyn, New York and a PhD candidate in Humanities and Culture at Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Nware has taught and worked in urban public schools for more than 18 years and has worked as a University Adjunct Professor for 4 years.
Nware was born in Hackensack, New Jersey and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He has recently lived in Brooklyn, New York for 15 years, as well as Philadelphia for 3 years and currently resides in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
As a first-time filmmaker and director, Nware has created his first feature documentary film, entitled: DNA-Using Genealogy to Change My SLAVE Last Name, which is in its final editing stage. The premise of the film poses the complex and sensitive question, “Should Black people change their White last name?” The film features Dr. Gina Paige of AfricanAncestry.Com as well as New York State Senator Kevin Parker, Historian and Scholar Dr. Leonard Jeffries and other scholars who give their insight on the topic. This complex and sensitive subject matter that his documentary film is based, has qualified Nware’s film to win the Yaa Asantewaa award for Best Documentary at the Black Star International Film Festival in Accra, Ghana. Since winning the award Nware has been interviewed by BBC-radio in London, England, WBAI-New York, WBGO-Newark, and WURD-Philadelphia. His film DNA was nominated for Best Documentary at the Newark International Film Festival in Newark, New Jersey and the 2020 San Diego Black Film Festival in San-Diego, California. The film has also screened at the Festival International Du Film Pan-African in Cannes, France, the 2020 African World Documentary Film Festival, and the 2020 Dividing Lines: African American and Native American Symposium. Nware has also lectured and screened his film at several conferences such as the National Council for Black Studies: Black Studies at 50: Sankofa Remembrance, Continuous Renewal and Transformative Practice, The University of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland: Personal Names and Reconstructions Conference and the prestigious institution of Oxford University in England: 9th Academic International Conference on Multi-Disciplinary Studies and Education (FLE Learning).
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