For an antiracist, decolonial feminist politics of protection
Two lectures by Françoise Vergès and Teresa Awa, followed by a conversation, organized by the Institute for Education in the Arts and the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies.
Françoise Vergès will speak about the following: There is no fight against sexist and sexual violence without a critique of the violence promoted and legitimized by the state and racial patriarcal capitalism. Neoliberal policies organise the abandonment of public services; the state privatises and militarises protection; the racialized, the poor, the young, the sex workers, the migrants, the refugees are criminalised, bodies that can be sacrificed. Françoise Vergès will discuss these policies and what are antiracist, decolonial feminist politics of protection.
Teresa Awa, who translated Françoise Vergès book into German under the title Eine feministische Theorie der Gewalt, will speak about the following: A lot of feminist and decolonial activism is based around text - theories and stories that help us understand different forms of oppression, share knowledge and inspire us to imagine other possible futures.
But while social struggles, lived experiences and analyses of systematic injustice are connected all across the globe, they are also locally situated in their very own specific contexts, histories and languages.
Translation is a work that mediates not only between languages but also the cultural and social framework that the translated texts are situated in. Which texts are being translated and into which languages? Who is translating, and which words do we use from one language to another? Teresa Awa will explore what it can mean to translate as a decolonial feminist practice.
Françoise Vergès, (La Réunion-France) is a Decolonial antiracist feminist activist, independent curator and writer.
Teresa Awa (Vienna) is a student, editor and translator.