WHEN WE SEE US Webinar Session Ten: Refusing the Gaze: Seeing & Authoring Ourselves

The 10th and final session in the 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙒𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙚 𝙐𝙨 𝙒𝙚𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧 series was titled Refusing the Gaze: Seeing & Authoring Ourselves. Speakers included Raphael Chikukwa; Sean Jacobs and Renée Akitelek Mboya.
The session was the last instalment and culmination of an evocative discursive programming series inspired by the landmark survey exhibition, 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙒𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙚 𝙐𝙨: 𝘼 𝘾𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙁𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜.
In it, we engaged Cameroonian historian, political theorist, and public intellectual, Achille Mbembe’s question: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦?
In his significant essay African Modes of Self-Writing (2002) Mbembe, identifies one of two main impulses that writers from Africa and the diaspora employ in response to Western perceptions and formulations of the continent. What he terms ‘Afro-radicalism’ is rooted in Marxism and nationalism ideologies that centre Africa as being in a perpetual state of oppression and in need of liberation through socialism and revolution.
Zeitz MOCAA’s curatorial and exhibition programming is generously supported by Gucci.
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Raphael Chikukwa joined the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in 2010 as its Chief Curator and is now the Executive Director and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Before joining the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Chikukwa worked for over ten years as an independent curator. Raphael Chikukwa is the founding Curator of the Pavilion of Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennale, starting from the 54th, up to the 58th Edition.
Founded in 2009, Sean Jacob’s Africa Is a Country launched the careers of several young African and diaspora writers, scholars, and artists. It features online commentary, original writing, media criticism, videos, audio, and photography, becoming one of the leading intellectual voices in the African online media sphere.
Renée Akitelek Mboya works between Kigali and Nairobi and is a collaborative editor with the Wali Chafu Collective.