Paper short abstract:

Feminist scholars argue that hashtags operate as locations for producing public speech. This paper analyzes viral hashtags such as RapeatAzania, #Menaretrash asking what kinds of stories are being told and by whom? Whose stories are being listened to and when? And what stories are being left out?

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, South Africa has witnessed a rise in feminist hashtags against sexual, gender-based violence and femicide (SGBVF), signaling an increasing belief in the transformative potential of digital platforms for womxn’s participation in the public discourse. Feminist scholars argue that hashtags operate as locations for producing public speech offering women the opportunity to speak out. As one of the key legacies of second-wave feminist politics, speaking out in response to rape has become a widely accepted cultural phenomenon “founded on the belief that producing and disseminating a genre of personal experiential narratives can end sexual violence” (Serisier, 2018: 4). Such beliefs are based on the assumption that all women who speak out will be listened to equally but as bell hooks explains, “for black women our struggle has not been to emerge from silence into speech but to change the nature and direction of our speech. To make a speech that compels listeners” (hooks, 1986: 124). Working from Oyewumi (2005)’s assertion that “the categorization of women in feminist discourses as a homogeneous, bio-anatomically determined group which is always constituted as powerless and victimized does not reflect the fact that gender relations are social relations and, therefore, historically grounded and culturally bound”, this paper analyzes Twitter data from viral hashtags #RapeatAzania, #Menaretrash and #RUREFERENCELIST, all centered on the idea of speaking out, asking what kinds of stories are being told and by whom? Whose stories are being listened to and when? Lastly, what stories are being left out?

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the use of African ontology as a framework for decolonization, drawing on insights from narratives in a social protection program where Western ontology meets local ontology in the contemporary world.

Paper long abstract:

The aim of the paper is to illustrate the ontological implication of development in relation to modernity/coloniality and decolonization. This implies that development should be recognized as a process of autonomous (re)creation of new, localized forms of development rooted in indigenous knowledge and practices. As in recent research on the ontological discussion of development, the political ontology of how people are "worlding" has been the focus of many researchers. However, many of the discussion on political ontology are referred in the study for Latin America.

The paper draws the insight based on the evidence from the fieldwork on financial inclusion program to support widows conducted in in Malawi. The program is funded by the international funding organization and it is operated by Malawian coordinators in several districts.

The paper discusses by questioning the use of ubuntu, which means "personhood" in English, that are often discussed in the field of political philosophy. In doing so, the paper will critically review the use of ubuntu as an ontological framework also in the Buen Vivir in Latin America in anthropological studies.

The paper concludes by proposing an ontological framework for African decolonization and development from the lived experiences of widows and implementers. The paper further suggests that Ubuntu-based financial inclusion programs should focus on empowering widows by taking into account their local context and lived experiences, and empowering them to make decisions about their own financial futures.

Paper short abstract:

The Destination is the Journey (2017), a graphic novel about Goan Mozambiquan artist Vamona Navelcar, offers an opportunity to examine alternative forms of history-recording and sharing about Lusophone Africa.

Paper long abstract:

Vamona Navelcar (1929-2021) is an artist whose life and career spanned colonial and postcolonial regimes in three continents, all of which contributed to his art and the ongoing challenge of preserving his pluricontinental legacy. This is precisely because neither Navelcar nor his artistic production can firmly be categorized as being solely Africa, Asian, or European.

The artist lived in Goa and Mozambique of the Portuguese and post-Portuguese eras, as well as Portugal of and after its colonial period. The most emblematic object that captured Navelcar’s transcontinental history was a suitcase the artist lost while leaving Mozambique, which he was exiled from in 1976 at the end of colonial rule. In it were nearly a thousand pieces of art which were never recovered upon the artist’s arrival in Portugal. Navelcar’s missing suitcase plays the role of the narrator of the artist’s life-itinerary in the graphic novel The Destination is the Journey (2017).

Take cue from the graphic novel, this presentation seeks to situate the artist’s biography and art politically within (and as indication of) Lusophonic Indian Ocean colonial and postcolonial histories. Tying Navelcar’s time in the colonial metropole to the inter-and intraoceanic linkages he created aesthetically and through his own movements across these terrains, we seek out the anticolonial and postcolonial critiques his art and existence offer. In so doing, we ask how alternative forms of chronicling such histories – as is the case in the graphic novel – may function in decolonizing how representations of African multiculturality are gathered, preserved, and shared.

Paper short abstract:

The article argues for a post-colonial reengineering of the current development debt framework theory and practice that can exacerbate green colonial practices.

Paper long abstract:

The question whether development banks truly enable sustainable and equitable growth or promote “green” neo-colonial practices is increasingly debated among scholars and practitioners of development. This paper analyzes the long-term impact of debt by Northern development banks on the portfolios of commercial banks in the Global South. In order to do so, we analyze development loans from six Northern development banks to Southern financial institutions. These six banks have different sizes and origins, and they exemplify different types of projects. Moreover, we examine the exposure of these financial institutions to Fossil Fuel stranded assets and compared these exposures to the original purposes of these development loans. This method juxtaposes theories and practices of development in the six development banks over a period of 30 years. The results show an increase in exposure to Fossil Fuel and its future risks for institutions in the Global South, while maintaining the returns for Northern institutions. They also demonstrate the continuing harmful impact created by these Northern development practices between 1990 and 2020, and the future risk facing the South’s financial institutions with their high exposure to stranded assets in the Fossil Fuel industry. With these insights, this research aims to decolonize practices of development banks and the underlying development literature and “knowledge” that justify these practices as these practices can create considerable risks for vulnerable groups within Global South. In conclusion, this paper argues for a post-colonial reengineering of current development debt framework theories and practice that can exacerbate such green colonial practices.