School of Social and Political Science

Description

The Centre of African Studies is pleased to invite you to the following book launch as part of its seminar series.

Speakers: Dr Msia Kibona Clark (Howard University) & Dr Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed (Grady College)

With: Dr Mary Roaf, Nora Eguienta and Patience Labane

Chair: Dr Radhika Govinda,  Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Director of GENDER.ED and School Director for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, University of Edinburgh

With a welcome note from Dr Rama Salla Dieng, Lecturer in African studies and International Development, 2023-24 Centre of African Studies Seminar Convenor

Organised by the Centre of African Studies and co-badged by GENDER.ED, University of Edinburgh

From Tamale to Paris, Hong Kong to Texas and back to Ouagadougou, this collection of scholarly chapters, poetry and personal essays theorizes the lives of African women and people of marginalized genders on the continent and the diaspora. The book is an important intervention in conversations on social movements and their convergence with digital media and other praxis tools. The contributors bring a refreshing perspective to discourses on African feminists’ agency and how this manifests in their organizing in the physical world and in the digital public sphere. The volume demonstrates the relationships between the struggles of African feminists on the continent and the diaspora charting pathways for African scholars to build coalitions and work toward collective liberation. 

When: Wednesday 18th October 2023 (3.30pm-5pm BST)

To attend this event: This event will be hybrid (In-person and online). For attendance:

• In-person: Please join us at 40 George Square, Lecture Theatre C
• Online: Please register in advance on Eventbrite, and a link to join the seminar will be sent to all registered guests on the day of the event.

Biographies:

Book Co-editors:

Dr Msia Kibona Clark is an Associate Professor in the African Studies Department at Howard University. Her research explores themes such as hip-hop in Africa, African feminism, and the influence of social movements on cultural production. Msia has published several articles, book chapters, and reviews in academic journals and popular media outlets. Her book, Hip-Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City and Dustyfoot Philosophers, has been widely acclaimed and has gained recognition for its groundbreaking analysis of hip-hop in Africa. Her work not only sheds light on rich and diverse African hip hop communities, but also addresses critical social issues. Her recent book African Women in Digital Spaces explores the use of social media for advocacy by women across Africa & the diaspora. In addition to her academic pursuits, she has curated exhibitions on African culture and photography and is the host of The Hip Hop African Podcast.

Dr Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed is an assistant professor of global media in the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. Her research which focuses on feminisms, decolonization and communication for social change have appeared in Feminist Media Studies, Communication Theory, Communication, Culture and Critique, the Howard Journal of Communications and other reputable journals. She has worked as a radio journalist in Ghana for several years and some of her work has appeared on Al Jazeera, The Guardian and The Washington Post. She has appeared on several Ghanaian media platforms including the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. She has won top paper awards at the International Communication Association (ICA), the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). She has also done organizing work around ethnicity, gender and sexuality in the feminist space in Ghana.

Contributors:

Dr Mary Roaf began a 20-year career in social justice and equity in public schools and higher education in 1993. She has a masters and a Ph.D. degree in Anthropology of Education from Northern Arizona University and Temple University, respectively, Mary joined the California State University-Stanislaus Ethnic Studies program in 2018. Mary’s research, teaching and social justice activism addresses interlocking oppressions of race, class, and gender. Specifically, her research addresses dismantling the “school to prison” pipeline, and building upon her work on Black decolonial feminisms after participating in the 2019 Black Decolonial Transnational Feminism Program in Brazil. Mary will continue a Pan-African/Diasporic approach to her scholarship, curricular development and pedagogy as a 2023 Fulbright-Hays Fellow participating in a month-long program in South Africa. Additionally, she has been supporting an emerging Black Lives Matter movement in the Central Valley region in California. Dr. Roaf’s commitment to exemplary decolonial pedagogy garnered her the Elizabeth Papageorge Faculty Award in Teaching for the 2020-21 year. She is also the Interim Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department for the 2022-23 year.

Nora Eguienta is a PhD candidate in history at the University Paris 8 Saint-Denis. She is preparing a thesis titled “Les institutrices de l’enseignement primaire laïque en Martinique des années 1900 aux années 1960.” Her research focuses on the history of education, especially women teaching in elementary schools in Martinique during colonial and postcolonial times. She analyzes their professionalization in the context of development of public schools during the French Third Republic and studies their different types of political commitment as educated women living in a colonial society. She is also a certified teacher, teaching contemporary history at the University of Paris 8.

Patience Labane is a University of the Free graduate, she obtained her degree in Humanities and Societal Dynamics. She’s a CSP Free State Slam champ (2018) a Vryfees slam champ (2019) and a Poetry Africa finalist (2021-2022).2020 saw Patience release her podcast ‘Her Thoughts’ which can be found on Spotify. She’s been to Malawi to attend the Tumaini festival at the Dzaleka refugee camp.

Patience was also a project manager on the amazing documentary on Nthabiseng ‘JahRose’ Jafta which can be watched on the National Arts Festival website. She has been part of two documentaries ‘Where the Poets Are’, as well as the ‘Eclectic Wordsmiths’.She was nominated by the Central Music awards under the category ‘Best female poet of the year 2022’. She has also received an award from the Radioactive Blog for The most improved poet of the year. In 2022, her work featured in the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology, the Toyin Falola short story Anthology, and the Poetic Blues poetry anthology.

Patience is also part of the Young African Leaders Initiative network and Alumni- She graduated in the Public Management and Governance track Cohort 20. Patience also received training in International Advocacy, Security management and Digital security from the Human Rights organization called DefendDefenders in Uganda. The training took place in Rosebank, Johannesburg 2022-2023. She has recently started a reading initiative called ‘Ha re Baleng’ under her organization (Lets Eat Art) which targets the Social Development Goal of Quality Education (SDG4) in relation to public schools in rural settlements. The idea is to challenge the absence of a policy that should ensure that every state school in South Africa should have access to a fully stocked library.