Thurs, 6
Dec, Book Cafe Gender Forum Discussion
"Race,
Gender, Identity"
Moderated
by Isabella Matambanadzo with Roxanne 'Xapa" Mathazia & Akua Naru
Race,
Gender, Identity: where do these three intersect?
“I am an artist”
“I am a woman
artist”
“I am a black
woman artist.”
History
tells us that women in once colonized states suffered more compared to their
male counterparts in that they were dealt a double sword with patriarchy as
well as the hand of the colonizer, is this true? How far does this go in
as far as defining an individual? Xapa unpacked by sharing her family
history, a touching story of generational injustices that were dealt on
black women then passed on to their children and children's children.
 |
| Akua Naru, Isabella Matambanadzo & Roxane 'Xapa' Mathazia |
Xapa narrated the harrowing story
of Saartjes Baartman, a
Black domestic who, in 1808, left Southern Africa, then ruled by Dutch
settlers, for Europe, following her boss Hendrick Caesar , hoping to find fame
and fortune there. Once in London her master turned manager does nothing but
exhibit her as a freak in a phony and humiliating carnival show. After a series
of troubles caused by their act, Caesar, Saartje and their new friend,
bear-tamer Réaux, head for Paris where once again, and against her will, she
has to mimic savagery and expose her body, first in carnivals, then in the
aristocratic salons of Paris, later on among the libertines and finally in
brothels where she ends up being a prostitute. In the meantime, French
anatomists will have taken an interest in her unusual anatomy (enormous
buttocks and labia) only to declare her the missing link from ape to man. In
1815, aged only 27, she dies alone, of a combination of pneumonia and venereal
disease.
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Wed 5 Dec, Film Screening of "POLYTECHIQUE" Canada 2009
Supported
by the Embassy of Canada, this film is based on the true events that
occurred on December 6, 1989 at Montreal's Polytechnique School of
Engineering, when a young man entered the school with one idea in mind:
to kill himself and take with him as may women as possible. The
screening was followed by a discussion moderated by Sally Dura which
centered mostly on feminism and how the patriarchal society perceives
it.
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Friday 30 Nov, DISCUSSION MEDIA AGAINST GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
A roundtable discussion on 'Media against Gender Violence' was held at
the Book Cafe. Supported by Media Alliance of Zimbabwe in partnership
with Pamberi Trust's gender project FLAME the discussion was attended by
over 30 media practitioners among them Sharon Hudson Dean of the
USPAS. Unpacking the role of the media: what has been done and what
should be done was Paidamoyo Veremu, lecturer in Mass Communication at
the Harare Polytechnic.
