The Study Sessions: Still I Rise Decolonising Queer/Feminist Resistance

The Study Sessions are a series of informal reading and discussion groups. Join discussions and read about transnational feminism, gender representation in the media, transgressing stereotypes, queer theory and more. 
 
 
Decolonising Queer/Feminist Resistance.
By Humaira Saeed.
 
This study session will be an opportunity to discuss and explore the relevance of decolonising queer/feminist resistance. We will consider resistance in a broad sense, referring to forms of political, cultural and representational practice. 
 
This study session will join the Still I Rise exhibition in centering women and queers in the history of resistance and non-normative ways of living. In relation to this we will be asking: Why might queer/feminist resistance need decolonising? What does it mean to decolonise resistance, in particular with a queer/feminist focus? How do the examples under discussion here illuminate our concerns with decolonisation?
 
Participants will engage with work by postcolonial feminist scholar Chandra Talpade Mohanty, who discusses the ways in which western dominance attempts to define and to evaluate what counts as resistance. Contra to this, Mohanty urges us to approach all forms of activism in terms of their localised concerns and priorities. 
 
In the study session we will also look closely at the portraiture work of artist Gabrielle Le Roux, who has drawn images and recorded struggles of many trans and intersex activists in countries across Africa, and in Turkey. These portraits, by a woman artist documenting a diversity of genders and activist practices in multiple locations, are an ideal entry point for us to think about and discuss the ways that resistance can be effectively decolonised.
 
 
Please note that places for these sessions are limited, to avoid disappointment please reserve a place emailing Mercè at merce@nottinghamcontemporary.org
 
 
Free. Booking Required
Gallery 4
 
 
 
Humaira Saeed is an academic researcher and cultural activist who works across the fields of postcolonial and gender/sexuality studies. She is the recipient of British Academy grant for a project that examines the ways in which non-heterosexual sexualities are communicated in Anglophone world literature. Humaira is also active in queer of colour politics and communities through curating events, editing and disseminating 'zines, running anti-racism workshops and acting as a mentor.
 
Image credit: Portraits and narratives of ten transgender Africans from seven countries in East and Southern Africa by Gabrielle Le Roux in partnership with Victor Mukasa.