‘Six Mountains on her back’ (Re)reading African Feminisms Colloquium Rhodes University

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21-22 July 2017

 

Programme

 

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21 July 2017

 

 

Fine Art Gallery

9:00: Registration

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School of Fine Art Seminar Room

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9:30 – 9:50:Welcome and Opening - Thando Njovane (UCKAR)

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10:10 – 11:00: Keynote Address - Dr Danai Mupotsa (Wits University): Feminism as Pedagogy

 

PANELS

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English Department Seminar Room

11:00 - 13:00: Women and Visual Arts

An African feminist conversation about the KhoiKhoi and San women in the Rock Art of South Africa – Beverly Barry (UCKAR)

 

Feminisms in Visual Culture; Un- silencing historically marginalized artists – Amy von Witt (UCKAR)

 

‘Defining ambiguity’: Theorising a politics of affectivity in contemporary South Africa through Mary Sibande’s ‘Sophie’ – Erin de Kock (UCKAR)

 

Chair: Sharlene Khan

 

 

School of Fine Art Seminar Room

11:00 - 13:00: African Feminist Thought

 

A Stiwanist Study of Selected Works of Francophone Authors – Joy Joseph (UCKAR)

 

Womanism and Critical Method in African Diaspora Writing – Brendon Nicholls (Leeds)

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The re-articulation of a holistic African female subjectivity in Koleka Putuma’s Collective Amnesia – Manthipe Moila (Rhodes)

 

Chair: Betty Govinden

 

 

13:00: LUNCH

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School of Fine Art Seminar Room

14:00 - 16:00: Intersectionality

 

Pompoms and Struggle Songs: The Limited Space for Feminism in #feesmustfall – Chelsey Wilken (Rhodes)

 

Towards a Decolonial Feminist Disability Studies for Southern Africa – Kharnita Mohamed (UCT)

 

Patriarchy Masked as Decoloniality: Problematizing ‘Decolonial’ Masculinist Critiques of Intersectionality –

Marzia Milazzo (Rhodes/Vanderbilt)

 

Chair: Danai Mupotsa

 

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English Department Seminar Room

14:00 - 16:00: Alternative Spaces

 

The politics of erasure and exposure of the black female bodies in site- specific performances. Discussing Woman in a Passage (2014) - Pumelela Nqelenga

 

Chair: Siphokazi Jonas

 

 

16:00: TEA

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School of Fine Art Seminar Room

16:15 – 18:15: Thinking Through, Talking Back: Creative Theorisation as Sites of Praxis-Theory, An Art on our Mind public conversation between Dr Sharlene Khan, Prof Pumla Dineo Gqola , Dr Yvette Abrams, Prof Neelika Jayawardene and Dr Betty Govinden.

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18:30 - 22:00:

Launch of artist book I Make Art by Sharlene Khan

 

Perfomance Poetry by Siphokazi Jonas and Betty Govinden

 

Exhibition: Being Here, Becoming Her curated by Refilwe Nkomo and Thato Mogotsi in conversation with with UCKAR performances and artwork by Heidi Sincuba, Erin de Kock, Khwezi Zungu and Samkela Stamper  (co-curated by Buhle Siwendu and Sharlene Khan).

 

 

 

22 July 2017

 

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English Department Seminar Room

9:00- 11:00: Labour

 

An intersectional analysis of work place discrimination in South African labour markets – Jamela Hoveni (Rhodes)

 

Perpetuation of female dependency syndrome in South Africa mirrors religious narratives: The case of Ruth – Thembinkosi Twalo (HSRC)

 

The unfolding of African feminism in CODESRIA – Nimi Hoffmann (Rhodes University)

 

Chair: Pumla Gqola

 

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School of Fine Art Seminar Room

9:00- 11:00: African Feminist Literary Readings

 

Demolishing the mountain within: Debunking patriarchy and self-reflexivity in African Women’s Writing – Susan Okpala (North-West)

 

Queering Domestic Space and Reproductive Time in Zöe Wicomb’s “Mrs Pringle’s Bed” – Jenny du Preez (Rhodes)

 

The Future of African Feminisms/ Miriam Makeba and Cosmo-existential Feminism – Palesa Mokoena (UCKAR)

 

Chair: Thando Njovane

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11:00 - 11:15: TEA

 

 

English Department Seminar Room

11:15 - 13:15: Imaging Women

 

Paw-Paw Politics: Lady Skollie and the Curating of Contradiction – Wamuwi Mbao (Stellenbosch)

 

Women in African Cinema: Female Identity on Screen – Lizelle Bisschoff (Glasgow)

 

Re-imagining African feminism through the Afro futuristic lens – Tshepiso Maleswena (Wits)

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The Message of Misogyny in Hip- Hop Music and its Gender Dynamics – Mamaputle Boikanyo (Rhodes)

 

Chair: Neelika Jayawardane

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School of Fine Art Seminar Room

11:15 - 13:15: Economics and Policy

 

South African foreign policy and its implications for feminist International Relations: the legacies of Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma and Maite Nkoana- Mashabane – Siphokazi Magadla (Rhodes)

 

 Chair: Yvette Abrahams

 

 

13:15 - 14:15: LUNCH

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English Department Seminar Room

13:15 – 15:15: Sexuality

 

Looking at disruption within feminist and anti-rape activism – Gorata Chengeta (Wits)

 

Challenging sexism, misogyny and censorship: A search for alternative spaces for feminist discourses in Zimbabwe – Ncube Gibson

 

Chair: Pumla Gqola

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School of Fine Art Seminar Room

13:15 – 15:15: Life Writing

 

(Re)visiting writing race-d queerness: a fictocritical exploration of writing the race-d queer South African Womxn – Chantelle Croeser (Stellenbosch)

 

A song in the night: the feminist ordeals of Norah Mumba – Ranka Primorac (Southampton)

 

Ekhaya nasemzini: Negotiating home in Noni Jabavu’s life narratives Drawn in Colour: African Contrasts and The Ochre People - Athambile Masola (Pretoria)

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#ThisIsMyVagina: A Political Peer Sexual Education Programme – Nyiko Lebogang Shikwambane (Wits)

 

Chair: Lynda Spencer

 

 

19:00 - 22.30

Closing Remarks - Dr Lynda Spencer (Rhodes)

                                                                   

DINNER