ArtMatters.Info

Nairobi Forum Interrogates Cultures of Violence

By Ken Owino
Published November 1, 2009

The Institute for Human Security (IHS), a non-governmental research and advocacy organisation based in Nairobi, is set to host a forum on colonial and post-colonial identities and cultures of war.

The forum, Violent cartographies: Mapping Colonial and post Colonial Identities and cultures of war, seeks to explore the shifting conceptualisations of war, ethics and identity from a multitude of political, historical and theoretical perspectives. It will involve a three-day academic seminar to be held at the British Institute in Eastern Africa (November 3-5, 2009) and a 15-day photography exhibition by fine-art photographer Rujunko Pugh at the Kuona Trust gallery (November 3-19, 2009).

The main speakers at the event include Grace Musila (Stellenbosch University, South Africa), Christopher Ouma, (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa), Costas M Constatinou (Nicosia University, Cyprus), Michael J Shapiro and Sam Opondo, (University of Hawai’i at Manoa) and Angharad Closs Stephens (Durham University, South Africa).

According to Sam Opondo, the event seeks to offer critical perspective on how ‘we’ think about war and the enmity-based identities and cultures that spawn them.

Among other things, the seminar and photo exhibition seek to bring together artists, academics and activists in order to interrogate cultures of violence on a global scale.