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SUMMARY:Joint Postdoctoral Lecture Series with Gladys Kalichini and Reem Kosba
DESCRIPTION:The Africa Institute, Global Studies University (GSU) is pleased to open its Fall 2026 Senior and Postdoctoral Lecture Series with a joint lecture by Dr. Gladys Kalichini, Okwui Enwezor Postdoctoral Fellow, and Dr. Reem Kosba, Fatema Mernissi Postdoctoral Fellow.
 
The lecture will take place on Thursday, September 10, 2026, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. GST in the GSU Auditorium.
 
 
LECTURE 1
 
“Beyond the Patriarchal Frame: An Analysis of Portrayals of Black Women in the Work of Kudzanai Chiurai through the Framework of the (In)visibility Continuum”
 
By Gladys Kalichini,
Okwui Enwezor Postdoctoral Fellow in Visual Culture, Performance Studies, and Critical Humanities
 
Abstract
 
This lecture critically explores Kudzanai Chiurai’s trilogy Revelation (2017), Genesis [Je n’is isi] (2016), and We Live in Silence (2017) through the conceptual framework of the (in)visibility continuum, which understands visibility not as a binary of absence and presence, but as a shifting and politically charged condition that is shaped by relations of power and affect. 
 
The discussion focuses on Chiurai’s repeated invocation of the Black female figure in his artworks; it traces how her visibility moves between symbolic representation and embodied subjectivity. It raises questions about what these shifts reveal about agency within narratives of resistance and national remembrance. Through a close reading of Chiurai’s visual strategies and historical references, the presentation considers both the possibilities and limits of visual redress. It argues that while Chiurai’s trilogy opens space for more democratic and inclusive historical imaginaries to emerge, it also exposes the complexities of making Black women’s visibility politically and historically legible in sustained and meaningful ways. 
 
Speaker
 
Gladys Kalichini, 2026 recipient of the Okwui Enwezor Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Africa Institute, GSU, is an interdisciplinary researcher working across visual culture, memory, gender, and liberation histories. Her research focuses on women’s visibility and erasure in anti-colonial and liberation struggles. Read more.
 
Moderator
 
Maha Bashri is Director of Research and Programming and Associate Professor of Media and Communication at The Africa Institute, GSU. Her research focuses on political communication, digital media, civic engagement, and gendered digital citizenship in Africa and the Global South. Read more.
 
 
LECTURE 2 
 
“Neo-Pharaonism and the Contemporary Representation of Ancient Egypt in Egyptian Material Culture”
 
By Reem Kosba,
Fatema Mernissi, Postdoctoral Fellow in Social and Cultural Studies
 
Abstract
 
This lecture examines the contemporary resurgence of ancient Egypt in Egyptian material and visual culture, situating it within longer histories of reception, nationalism, Pharaonism, and colonial knowledge production. It explores how modern Egyptians imagine, engage with, and represent ancient Egyptian heritage through processes of retraditionalization, readaptation, and repurposing as a consequence of the ongoing sociopolitical and economic repercussions of the Arab Spring and its aftermath. Drawing on material culture, cultural, and reception studies, it contextualizes recent cultural spectacles and practices alongside the longer history of Pharaonism and transnational Egyptomania. It examines how heritage is mobilized to shape contemporary discourses of identity, creativity, national belonging, and cultural authority, while tracing the continued influence of Eurocentric knowledge systems and colonial collection practices on representations of Egyptian antiquity. 
 
The lecture situates these contemporary developments within the emergence of Pharaonism in the early twentieth century, when ancient Egypt became central to political, intellectual, and cultural debates surrounding modern Egyptian identity and subsequently influenced artistic and cultural production. It also considers how colonial legacies continue to shape Western representations of ancient Egypt, highlighting persistent questions of ownership, repatriation, and authority.
 
Speaker 
 
Reem Kosba, 2026 recipient of the Fatema Mernissi Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Africa Institute, GSU, is an interdisciplinary scholar working across religion, feminist studies, and material culture. Her research examines the intersections of Islam, aesthetics, gender, and materiality in Egypt. Read more.
 
Moderator
 
Sabrina Moura is Associate Professor of History of Art and Visual Studies at The Africa Institute, GSU. Her research focuses on art and museum histories, exhibitions, memory, heritage, and the geopolitics of knowledge in Africa, Latin America, and the Global South. Read more.
Through these lectures and workshops, The Africa Institute, GSU  reaffirms its mission as a teaching and research center for the study of Africa and its diaspora, and its commitment to training a new generation of critical thinkers in African and African Diaspora studies.  
LOCATION:Auditorium, GSU 
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260910
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260910
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