Professor Brezault Presents at International Conference in Dakar
Professor Brezault presented at an international conference in Dakar in Nov 2023 on African literature and Ecology. Her paper was entitled: “Afrofuturism, performances and environmental dystopias: In search of a new ecopoetics of place.”
She draws from Mbembe’s ideas in Brutalisme (2020) and Garnier’s latest book Écopoétiques Africaines (2022) to discuss Afrofuturism and ecological narratives in the performances of Congolese artists and the videos clips of Belgo-Congolese slammer and singer Baloji in his songs Capture and Zombies (available on You Tube) The work of those artists can be read an act of resistance against the “slow violence” (Rob Nixon) that is gnawing away at African cities. Those artists use their art to promote a new way of interacting with those around them to counterbalance the objectification of the African body that has become a mere merchandise in the battle for mining and extractivism that is happening in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.