Dienstag, 05. April 2022, 18:30 - 20:00 iCal

Politics of IN/VISIBILITY

A Black African Trans/Nb/Gnc Critical Take

 

Faris Cuchi Gezahegn (Vienna)


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Lecture


In 2022, it is an indisputable actuality that the visibility of Trans, Non-binary, and Gender non-conforming folks is at its highest in contemporary art and popular culture, in spaces of the socio-economic-political system, and in popular awareness. This series of lectures intends to critically investigate this actuality and its translation into the sanctity and safety of Trans/NB/GNC folks. This critical scrutinizing will uncover the advantageous nature of the politics of visibility; it will identify its positive impact in opening up spaces for conversation that are catalysts for change; it will assess how the mechanism of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy is interrupting, by reading through selected book sections (1), as well as other articles and audiovisual material that showcase how Trans folks are pushed out in telling their own stories and getting rewarded for their work (2). We will dive into the reflection on the “Politics of IN/VISIBILITY” and its global rhetorics that center predominantly on the US-based reality and questions about the role that its imperialist agenda plays in molding the political consciousness in which Trans/NB/GNC folks lived reality in other contexts (in the continent Africa, for instance) struggle to be seen and documented.

As we process such ambivalent nature of “Politics of IN/VISIBILITY,” the lectures invite everyone with softness, tenderness, kindness, and love to see our participation via the coercive nature of this interrupting force, as well as to develop the capacity and technology to unlearn and learn the usage of visibility to secure the sanctity to all Trans/NB/GNC folks on planet earth.

 

(1) These include, but are not limited to: “Known Unknowns: An Introduction to Trap Door” by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, and Johanna Burton and “Cautious Living: Black Trans Women And The Politics Of Documentation” (both in Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics Of Visibility, edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, and Johanna Burton).

(2) Such as articles (“The Transgender Tipping Point” by Katz Steinmetz, “Trans filmmaker Reina Gossett accuses ‘The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson’ creator of stealing work” by Tre’vell Anderson) and films (Disclosure by Sam Feder, Tangerine by Sean Baker, The Pearl of Africa by Jonny von Wallström)

 

Faris Cuchi Gezahegn is a performance artist, PCCC stand-up comedian and an intersectional LGBTIQA* advocate who uses different media such as style activism, video and audio to bring about social change and to start a conversation on the issues they face while navigating day-to-day life as a non-binary Ethiopian/African LGBTIQA* advocate/refugee in central Europe and back in their homeland Ethiopia. They have lived in Austria since 2017, having been granted asylum after their security in Ethiopia got compromised. They are one of the co-founders of House of Guramayle, a collaborative intersectional organization created by group of activists & advocates based in different parts of the world joined by common regional & cultural identities that advocates for sanctity for LGBTQIA Horn Africans both in Horn of Africa and in the diaspora. Faris Cuchi Gezahegn is also engaged with Afro Rainbow Austria, an organization to create visibility and safe space for African Queer bodies in Austria.

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Veranstalter

Referat Genderforschung der Universität Wien


Um Anmeldung wird gebeten


Kontakt

Sushila Mesquita
Referat Genderforschung
4277-18452
sushila.mesquita@univie.ac.at