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On Wednesday, June 8, 2022, The Africa Institute hosted a panel of faculty and fellows who reflected, critiqued, and discussed Françoise Vergès’s award winning book, ‘A Decolonial Feminism’. Author of over 20 books, Françoise Vergès is a Professor of Cultural and Postcolonial Studies at the Africa Institute.
The panel included faculty members Surafel Wondimu Abebe, Assistant Professor of Performance Studies and Theory; Amy Niang, Associate Professor of Political Science and Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow Naminata Diabate, who discussed their perspectives on the book—a powerful manifesto that highlights essential issues in contemporary feminist debates.
For too long feminism has been co-opted by the forces they seek to dismantle. In this powerful manifesto, Francoise Verges argues that feminists should no longer be accomplices of capitalism, racism, colonialism, and imperialism: it is time to fight the system that created the boss, built the prisons and polices women’s bodies.
A Decolonial Feminism grapples with the central issues in feminist debates today: from Eurocentrism and whiteness, to power, inclusion and exclusion. Delving into feminist and anti-racist histories, Verges also assesses contemporary activism, movements and struggles, including #MeToo and the Women’s Strike.
Centering anticolonialism and anti-racism within an intersectional Marxist feminism, the book puts forward an urgent demand to free ourselves from the capitalist, imperialist forces that oppress us.
Françoise Vergès is a public educator and activist who works on decolonial feminism, slavery, and postcolonialism. She has a PhD in Political Science from Berkeley and has authored several books. She has been involved in various artistic, cultural, and political projects in France, the US, Algeria, and other countries. She has collaborated with artists like Isaac Julien and Kader Attia, curated exhibitions, written films, and created the Chair Global South(s) at the Collège d’études mondiales. She is also the cofounder of the association “Decolonize the Arts.”
Surafel Wondimu Abebe is an Assistant Professor, Performance Studies and Theory at The Africa Institute. Abebe studied Literature (BA) and Cultural Studies (MA) at Addis Ababa University (AAU) (2010). He served at AAU as a lecturer, researcher, and Deputy Dean of Humanities. He continued working with AAU as an assistant professor at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Center for African Studies, and College of Performing and Visual Arts after he completed his PhD in Performance Historiography at the University of Minnesota (2018). He is also board member of a multi-genre online journal, AGITATE, at the University of Minnesota. Read more.
Amy Niang is an Associate Professor of Political Science at The Africa Institute. She holds a BA in International Relations (2005) and a MA in Political Economy (2007) from the University of Tsukuba, and a PhD in Politics and International Relations (2011) from the University of Edinburgh. She has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat. She has also held visiting positions and fellowships at several prestigious institutions, such as the University of Sao Paulo, Princeton University, the University of Halle-Wittenberg, the University of Michigan, and the Institute of Peace and Security Studies. Her research interests are broadly centered around the history and politics of Africa, especially state formation, sovereignty, and international relations. She has published extensively in academic journals and books, such as International Relations, Alternatives, Politics, African Studies, African Economic History, and Journal of Ritual Studies. Read more.
Naminata Diabate is Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow at The Africa Institute. She is also an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Cornell University. She is a member of the core faculty in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS), and affiliated faculty in Romance Studies; Africana Studies and Research Center (ASRC); Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies; Performing and Media Arts; and Visual Studies. Diabate holds a PhD in Comparative Literature with dual concentrations in African Diaspora Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies from the University at Texas at Austin (2011).
A scholar of African and African diaspora studies and sexuality and gender studies with linguistic expertise in Malinké, French, English, Nouchi, Spanish, and Latin, her work seeks to redefine how we understand specific forms of embodied agency in the neoliberal present in global Africa. Diabate engages multiple sites, including novels of 20th and 21st centuries, online and social media, pictorial arts, film, journalism, and oral traditions from Africa, black America, Afro-Hispanic America, and the French Antilles. Read more.
On Wednesday, June 8, 2022, The Africa Institute hosted a panel of faculty and fellows who reflected, critiqued, and discussed Françoise Vergès’s award winning book, ‘A Decolonial Feminism’. Author of over 20 books, Françoise Vergès is a Professor of Cultural and Postcolonial Studies at the Africa Institute.
On Wednesday, June 8, 2022, The Africa Institute hosted a panel of faculty and fellows who reflected, critiqued, and discussed Françoise Vergès’s award winning book, ‘A Decolonial Feminism’. Author of over 20 books, Françoise Vergès is a Professor of Cultural and Postcolonial Studies at the Africa Institute.
The panel included faculty members Surafel Wondimu Abebe, Assistant Professor of Performance Studies and Theory; Amy Niang, Associate Professor of Political Science and Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow Naminata Diabate, who discussed their perspectives on the book—a powerful manifesto that highlights essential issues in contemporary feminist debates.
For too long feminism has been co-opted by the forces they seek to dismantle. In this powerful manifesto, Francoise Verges argues that feminists should no longer be accomplices of capitalism, racism, colonialism, and imperialism: it is time to fight the system that created the boss, built the prisons and polices women’s bodies.
A Decolonial Feminism grapples with the central issues in feminist debates today: from Eurocentrism and whiteness, to power, inclusion and exclusion. Delving into feminist and anti-racist histories, Verges also assesses contemporary activism, movements and struggles, including #MeToo and the Women’s Strike.
Centering anticolonialism and anti-racism within an intersectional Marxist feminism, the book puts forward an urgent demand to free ourselves from the capitalist, imperialist forces that oppress us.
Françoise Vergès is a public educator and activist who works on decolonial feminism, slavery, and postcolonialism. She has a PhD in Political Science from Berkeley and has authored several books. She has been involved in various artistic, cultural, and political projects in France, the US, Algeria, and other countries. She has collaborated with artists like Isaac Julien and Kader Attia, curated exhibitions, written films, and created the Chair Global South(s) at the Collège d’études mondiales. She is also the cofounder of the association “Decolonize the Arts.”
Surafel Wondimu Abebe is an Assistant Professor, Performance Studies and Theory at The Africa Institute. Abebe studied Literature (BA) and Cultural Studies (MA) at Addis Ababa University (AAU) (2010). He served at AAU as a lecturer, researcher, and Deputy Dean of Humanities. He continued working with AAU as an assistant professor at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Center for African Studies, and College of Performing and Visual Arts after he completed his PhD in Performance Historiography at the University of Minnesota (2018). He is also board member of a multi-genre online journal, AGITATE, at the University of Minnesota. Read more.
Amy Niang is an Associate Professor of Political Science at The Africa Institute. She holds a BA in International Relations (2005) and a MA in Political Economy (2007) from the University of Tsukuba, and a PhD in Politics and International Relations (2011) from the University of Edinburgh. She has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat. She has also held visiting positions and fellowships at several prestigious institutions, such as the University of Sao Paulo, Princeton University, the University of Halle-Wittenberg, the University of Michigan, and the Institute of Peace and Security Studies. Her research interests are broadly centered around the history and politics of Africa, especially state formation, sovereignty, and international relations. She has published extensively in academic journals and books, such as International Relations, Alternatives, Politics, African Studies, African Economic History, and Journal of Ritual Studies. Read more.
Naminata Diabate is Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow at The Africa Institute. She is also an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Cornell University. She is a member of the core faculty in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS), and affiliated faculty in Romance Studies; Africana Studies and Research Center (ASRC); Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies; Performing and Media Arts; and Visual Studies. Diabate holds a PhD in Comparative Literature with dual concentrations in African Diaspora Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies from the University at Texas at Austin (2011).
A scholar of African and African diaspora studies and sexuality and gender studies with linguistic expertise in Malinké, French, English, Nouchi, Spanish, and Latin, her work seeks to redefine how we understand specific forms of embodied agency in the neoliberal present in global Africa. Diabate engages multiple sites, including novels of 20th and 21st centuries, online and social media, pictorial arts, film, journalism, and oral traditions from Africa, black America, Afro-Hispanic America, and the French Antilles. Read more.
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