Mona Eltahawy will tonight’s guest at the Joburg Theatre as South Africa continues to celebrate Africa Month. Her topic of discussion will be “Reflections on Africa’s Emancipation Post the North African Uprisings of 2010.” She will be joined by Nomboniso Gasa and Panashe Chigumadzi.
The South African Department of Arts and Culture has been hosting a series of events honouring all aspects of arts, culture and heritage as part of Africa Month which was inaugurated last year. During Africa Month, which is every May, countries are encouraged to celebrate their cultural traditions an in the wider context of the great diversity and wealth of cultures, beliefs, and traditions that make up the African Continent.
This evening, it will be the time for Egyptian Mona Eltahawy to talk about the North African Uprisings that many wrongly called the Arab spring of 2010. Wrongly we say because the majority of the uprisings were not in the Middle East but in Africa – Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria et al.
Cairo based Eltahawy is an award-winning columnist and international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues and global feminism. The book we all know her for is Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution but she is also a contributor to the New York Times. Newsweek magazine named Eltahawy one of its “150 Fearless Women of 2012.” Time magazine featured her along with other activists from around the world as its People of the Year and Arabian Business magazine named her one of the 100 Most Powerful Arab Women.
Her partners in crime today will be Panashe Chigumadzi who is known in the literary community for her novel Sweet Medicine (our review). She is the founder of Vanguard Magazine and an activist of note. Also on stage will be with gender and land activist Nomboniso Gasa.
So if you are in Joburg tonight you want to check out the Joburg Theatre, The Fringe where the action kicks off at 6.45pm.
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