Please join Columbia’s University Seminar on Contemporary Africa for:Against Sovereign Violence: Feminist Activism, Law, and Analysis from the South

Speaker’s Bio and Abstract:
Saida Hodžić is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. Her research examines the productive tension between feminist activism and governmentality, focusing on mutual entanglements between Ghana and the global North. Her recent publications include “Feminist Bastards: Toward a Post-Humanist Critique of NGOization,” in Theorizing NGOs: States, Feminisms, and Neoliberalism, and “Ascertaining Deadly Harms: Aesthetics and Politics of Global Evidence” in Cultural Anthropology.
This talk draws on her forthcoming book,The Twilight of Cutting: African Activism and Life after NGOs. By shedding light on how Ghanaian activists and civil servants both fetishize the law and reckon with its violence, this work invites attention to the ordinary and to practice as sites where feminist critiques of liberalism are both challenged and reinvigorated.

Columbia University Faculty House (directions available here)
February 23rd
6pm-8pm

Seminar Chairs: Abosede George and Rhiannon Stephens

Please RSVP to ths2122@columbia.edu if you would like to join the group for dinner at a nearby restaurant.