‘Mama I want the Black that you are’ Dean’s Concert

Posted on April 29, 2019

Organised by Dr Raita Steyn (Art Education) with the support of the Department of Humanities Education, a performance of the play ‘Mama I want the Black that you are’ took place at the Normal Hall on 18 April 2019 in front of an astonishing 200 spectators.

In the framework of our Department’s commitment to promote the policy of inclusion and the elimination of all expressions of discrimination through education, this play was presented as part of the Dean’s Concert Week. It was applauded warmly and successfully reached its goal: constructive awareness of albinism, its semantics, destructive prejudice and stereotypes.

‘Mama I want the Black that you are’ is a theatre production that focuses on the lives of people living with Albinism and dealing with the prejudice of rejection and being an outcast. Based on interviews with people directly affected by or living with Albinism, the plot is a captivating account of a family with a dark past, which – through the dramatic performance of the protagonist, Regina, Mary Ndlovu, herself with a condition of albinism – has had a direct impact on the spectators.

Written, produced and directed by two well-known South African artists, Arthur Molepo and Mpho Molepo, the play is sponsored by the Ministerial Department of Arts and Culture to raise ‘Awareness on People living with Albinism’.

The activity ended with the warm hospitality offered by the Dean, Prof Chika Sehoole, whom we wish to thank for his continuous support and heartening encouragement.

This specific theme will also be discussed in a scholarly manner at the 34th Annual SAVAH Conference: ‘Speaking with ghosts: Hauntology, memory, nostalgia and other ways of engaging with past/present/future’ in September 2019. Dr Steyn’s abstract, ‘‘Albinos’: Haunted persons or haunting beings?’ has been accepted for presentation at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, hosted by The Faculty of Informatics and Design.

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