Czech–New Zealand educator, playwright, poet
Janinka Greenwood (née Janinka Miroslava Alzbeta Chuml; born 20 October 1947) is a New Zealand academic, playwright and poet. Since 2018, she has been professor emerita in the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury.
Early life.
Greenwood was born Janinka Miroslava Alzbeta Chuml in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on 20 October 1947. Her family migrated to New Zealand and she became a naturalised New Zealander in 1960. She was educated at Baradene College of the Sacred Heart in Auckland. When she was in the sixth form, aged 16, she won the Theatre Arts Guild national essay competition, organised by the Christchurch Shakespeare Festival committee, on the topic "Shakespeare after four centuries".
Academic career.
Greenwood completed a PhD titled "Journeys into A Third Space: A study of how theatre enables us to interpret the emergent space between cultures" at Griffith University. Greenwood then joined the faculty of the University of Canterbury, rising to full professor. She is director of the Research Lab for Creativity and Change. She was appointed professor emerita in 2018.
Greenwood taught drama in primary, secondary and tertiary education settings for twenty years. Greenwood is known internationally for her research into the use of drama and theatre in education. She has written a number of resources for teachers, and was involved with the Te Mauri Pakeaka project. This project, created by Arnold Wilson, ran from the late 1970s until 1988, and was an educational programme aimed at making a 'third space' for Māori and Pākehā cultures to come together in the creation of art. 
Greenwood was publications officer for the New Zealand Association for Drama in Education. She is also a playwright and poet. She has collaborated internationally with researchers in Bangladesh, Norway, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Thailand, and Malaysia.
In 2020, Greenwood was a keynote speaker at the International Society for Education through Art conference, where she talked about the responses of arts communities to lockdowns and social division. In 2022 Greenwood was the co-organiser of an art auction in Northland to raise money for artists in Ukraine.
One of Greenwood's notable doctoral students is Professor Jo Fletcher, in the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury.
Awards and honours.
The American Alliance for Theater and Education awarded Greenwood their Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2004.
References.
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