ASC Annual Lecture 2024 – ‘Transnational Feminism in an Age of Genocide’

The African Studies Centre (ASC) Annual Lecture was delivered by Professor Amina Mama (University of California Davis) on 7 May 2024. Mama spoke on ‘Transnational Feminism in an Age of Genocide’. Mama began the lecture by reminding the audience that ‘we do well to recall Nelson Mandela, who captured the sentiment of the anti-colonial world when he said “we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”’. Mama’s lecture was an absorbing tour de force, tracing the anti-colonial and anti-patriarchal political genealogy of South feminism. Mama argued global militarism in the 21st Century is the antithesis of South feminism. Additionally, Mama analysed the many actions being taken by women’s movements at multiple locations in the formerly colonised world and its diasporas, to challenge mass killings and genocidal acts in Palestine, Sudan, the Sahel and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), among others. Mama’s lecture was well attended by the African Studies community in Oxford and by other university members with thematic interests such as transnational feminism, genocide and militarism. The ASC extends its profound appreciation to Professor Amina Mama for a highly stimulating and timely lecture, and to all university members who continue to support the ASC’s events. 

Amina Mama is a transdisciplinary feminist educator, researcher and organizer and a professor in the Dept of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Davis. Amina’s most influential books include Beyond the Masks: Race, Gender and Subjectivity (Routledge 1995) and Engendering African Social Sciences (co-edited with Fatou Sow and Ayesha Imam, CODESRIA 1997). She has over 30 years of experience on university campuses in Africa, Europe, and the USA. Her most prestigious appointments have included the Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity at University of Utrecht (2004), the Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair at Mill’s College (2007-2009), the Angela Davis Guest Professor in Social Justice at the Cornelia Goethe Centre, University of Frankfurt (2016), and the Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies (2020-2022). She co-produced two documentaries The Witches of Gambaga 2011, and The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo 2014, both with filmmaker Yaba Badoe. Amina continues to pursue her interests through writing, collaborative action-research, documentation and film projects.