Drama researchers participate in colloquium at WiCDS

Dr Myer Taub presented a paper on ‘The skin of memory’, a reflexive, continuous-performance, activist work. In his own words he continuously ‘reactivates and reconvenes’ in the work, trying to “load shed” the construct that is his body in an effort to decolonise his own identities.

Selogadi Mampane presented a paper ‘The gender identification game: Mokgadi Caster Semenya and her masculine performance of sex’. Through an intersectional analysis of how Semenya’s masculinity was experienced after her 2009 Olympic championship win, Mampane explored the stigmatisation of alternative female-bodied masculinities in a heteronormative culture.

The colloquium brought together academics, artists and human rights activists in the LGBTIQ community whose goal is to foster collaborative relationships through which participants could learn from one another and so “decolonise” stigma around LGBTIQ identities in the global South. Through this collaborative and explorative effort the colloquium highlighted the problem of “gender binary and heteronormativity”, and papers were delivered by a drama lecturer, a drama intern and a master’s student on the experiences of LGBTIQ people in the South African context.

The colloquium was hosted by WiCDS, with support from Wits University and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, and was convened by Haley McEwan, the WiCDS Research Coordinator.