Finding Africa seminar - Joanita Mirembe on Womanism in Contemporary African Feminism

Finding Africa – African Feminisms seminar series 2017

Womanism in Contemporary African Feminism

- Joanita Mirembe

Thursday 6 April, 5pm, Leeds Humanities Research Institute Seminar Room 1

The next seminar paper in our African Feminisms series will be delivered by Joanita Mireme Lwanga and is entitled “Womanism in Contemporary African Feminism”. The seminar will take place on Thursday 06 April at the LHRI seminar room 1 at 5pm. The event is free and open to all.

Abstract

In most African fables, oral literature, culture and tradition an African woman is highly revered and respected. A mother in the community one dares not talk back or upset her.
Most African cultures believe being disrespectful to the African woman, equates to being cursed for life. African women have always spoken out and their stories have been passed on. This message is reinforced by Ogundipe- Leslie who decries simplistic false images and depiction of the African woman. She maintains that the problem is the refusal of scholars to search for African women’s voices.

The African woman on a contemporary platform is faced with a wider dilemma of justifying herself to the world as she is, as opposed to the historical image on her. In the diaspora she faces an even more complex relationship with regard to identification, imagery and projection. Diasporan feminism is rooted in the historical experience of enslavement and racism. Conflicting images of assimilation in the diaspora have led many an African woman to alter their image to an exterior superficiality using appendages such as fake hair, skin lighteners, accents and fashion sense. Outwardly the African woman objectively alters her image, whilst battling the truth of ‘self’ on the inside; lost in a world that has rules and parameters already conscripted to exclude, unless one assimilates. This paper explores a journey of the definition of African feminism in the diaspora, whether one can afford to be African and feminist whilst towing the intricate line of assimilation and conformism.

About Joanita Mirembe Lwanga

A mother, daughter, sister and friend, holds a Master’s degree in Globalization, Development and Transition from the University of Westminster UK and a Bachelor’s degree in Literature, Psychology and Linguistics from Makerere University Uganda. Founded and currently the president of the Fight Against AIDS (FAA) Society now a fully registered company limited by guarantee in the UK, with global partners in Africa, Europe and America, bringing together university students plus various partners all over the world to help curb and prevent HIV/AIDS. Highly experienced and involved in volunteering for minority and youth related initiatives in the UK and East Africa. Experienced executive and an expert on the Uganda private non-state health sector; served as Uganda Healthcare Federation (UHF) Executive Director a USAID funded project between October 2013 – December 2014. Currently working on a historical compilation of experiences as an African woman, from journals dating twenty years back on both sides of the hemisphere.