DIGITAL ONLY
Monday 18 October, 17:30 – 18:45 BST / 19:30 – 20:45 (EAT)
Venue: Crowdcast
Tickets: FREE / £2 / £5 / £10 (Pay What You Can)
With Stella Nyanzi, Ayo Sogunro, Leigh-Ann Naidoo and James Wan.
African Argument’s ‘Radical Activism in Africa’ special series, guest edited by the Ugandan radical queer feminist scholar and social justice activist Dr. Stella Nyanzi, brings together writers and activists from across the continent. Each with their own unique perspective and experience, they interrogate fundamental questions about the nature of radical activism in Africa today.
How can we dig down into the true root of an issue when there are so many intersecting and contradictory dynamics? How can social media’s pan-African potential be realised and how can we cultivate a shared language? What is genuine solidarity and how can it be practised across vast material, geographical and social divides? What does radical activism look like in a country where even the slightest hint of dissent leads to ostracism? What can we learn from sex-positive women’s movements in Egypt or activists risking their lives in the DR Congo?
Listen to Stella Nyanzi and contributors Ayo Sogunro and Leigh-Ann Naidoo in a thought-provoking conversation on the issues raised in the series, chaired by African Arguments editor James Wan.
This is presented by Africa Writes and African Arguments as part of our ‘Radical Activism’ series. If you’re interested in your writing practice as an activist, sign up for our ‘Writing as Radical Activism’ workshop.
Here’s what you need to know about the speakers:
Dr. Stella Nyanzi is a multiple award-winning medical anthropologist specialising in human sexualities in Uganda and The Gambia. She self-identifies as a radical queer feminist scholar, social justice activist, human rights defender, non-violent protester, poet, Facebooker, opposition FDC politician, and mother of three. Her poetry anthology, No Roses From My Mouth, was written while imprisoned for 15 months in Uganda before her acquittal.
James Wan is the editor of African Arguments. He is an elected member of the African Studies Association-UK council and a fellow of the Wits University China-Africa Reporting Project. He is the former Acting Editor of African Business Magazine and Senior Editor at Think Africa Press. He has written for Aljazeera, New Humanitarian, BBC, The Guardian (UK) and other outlets.
Dr Ayo Sogunro is an author and human rights lawyer who contributes to African socio-political commentary through his writings, advocacy and community educational events. His books include the short stories: The Wonderful Life of Senator Boniface and other Sorry Tales and the collection of essays: Everything in Nigeria is Going to Kill You. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pretoria.
Leigh-Ann Naidoo is an educator and organizer based at the School of Education at the University of Cape Town. Her intellectual and political interests include social movements as sites of knowledge production, the roles of education in resistance movements, histories of radical education and student resistance, and the formation of the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa.
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Image of Dr Stella Nyanzi
Africa Writes 2021 returns from 4 – 24 October. You can join us in celebrating the imagination, pleasure and activism within contemporary African literature either online, at 180 The Strand and the British Library. Learn more about the programme here.
