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aa noun

@aa_noun

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(history - poetry - writing - sound)

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OUT NOW! ✨📚🌺 Finally, hushed conversations, whispers and taboos have found a home on paper. As black-African women, much of what we experience is pushed to the shadows, out of sight, not even dared to be uttered out loud.

The Cassava Republic Press (@cassavarepublicpress) publication “Dancing with Jinns: Black Women Write on Taboo” brings together ten African women writing about bodies, desire, sexuality, illness, inheritance, religion, language, power and the things cultures sometimes place beyond speech.

It was an honor for me to edit the fantastic, and hilarious essay “no longer wild” by Davina Philomena Kawuma which discusses menstruation, shame and creationism. The editorial skills I learned from the 2024 workshop led by Ellah Wakatama and Layla Mohamed were crucial for me. I will always value the lessons from the workshop and appreciate how revolutionary it was to be in a room with women from all corners of our African continent, in conversation, debate and above all, sisterhood.

I hope this collection opens up conversations about what becomes unspeakable, who decides that it is unspeakable, and what it can cost to speak.

OUT NOW via @cassavarepublicpress 💫
#cassavarepublicpress #womenwritingtaboo by @aa_noun

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20 hours ago

bought as a souvenir gift in a joburg car park-sunday market, at a stall of used books. a fitting origin story for a story of objects, pilfered trinkets, loitering in south african malls, handwritten letters and the overarching message that every single one of us has a story and a history that can be transformed into narrative. always remember, there is no bad book, every finished product something necessary for the author to put pen to paper for. #researchives on writing for yourself (always), family curses and the intrigue (and demand) for African stories. meandering and wandering, ending up wherever your two feet - or two hands - take you. by @aa_noun

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7 days ago

This was my first Ama Ata Aidoo and it really had me thinking about how we decide what the canon of classics is. and who it depicts, who can speak, who can write of experience and how that art will be remembered and categorized. all this to say, ‘Our Sister Killjoy’ is a classic. to those who knew that already about aunty Ama, I regret being so late to the party. a novel that whizzes by leaving a dust cloud of laughter, wonder, amazement at the accuracy of the African/Europe(an) experience and a hint of sadness. this one and many others, we have our classics, and we definitely have our heroes. #researchives on writing for yourself, on writing a story so true that it stands the test of time. RIP AAA. by @aa_noun

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18 days ago

what an honour to participate in a fantastic roundtable at the International Conference: Women’s and Gender History in Times of Challenges to Democracy, Diversity and Responsibility hosted in Bielefeld this September. The Kongress-Geschlechtergeschichte’s 2026 theme was: women’s and gender history in times of challenges to democracy, diversity, and responsibility (Anfechtung von Demokratie, Diversität und Verantwortung). Our panel discussed gender and colonialism, working from the margins, in silent - and silenced - archives, working amidst restrictions, visa denials, shaky internet connection and threats to the field. discussing when collaboration is welcomed and when it is better to put to the side, language, dignity and agendas. a dynamic discussion, Q&A and lengthy responses, most of all by yours truly, who continues to use academia as an excuse to yap endlessly about the past. ✨ today, as yesterday, as tomorrow and forever more: grateful. thank you to our incredible chairs: Ulrike Lindner and Bettina Brockmeyer. thank you also to our - academic+beyond - mothers, godmothers, grandmothers who have been writing Africa, beyond/before/despite colonialism. reference on the last slide (#researchives) by @aa_noun

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a month ago

this is a mix of #reviewarchives & #researchives. after watching the odyssey (3x) i felt it was only right to return to the canon, which involved watching brad pitt at his campiest, percy jackson and a teenage cyclops and most importantly, re-reading madeline miller’s inimitable novel, circe. reminded of the deceptively simple prose, a true craft. her meditative language and centering of circe, a complex character, both scorned and vengeful. first image: “circe individiosa” (1892) by John William Waterhouse shows her transforming scylla into a monster. what makes circe an alluring character, her disdain for the taking and taking, insatiable appetites? or is it her affinity and comfort with animals, wild lions and wolves at her feet? or her ability to transform matter? or how extreme (or reasonably extreme?) she takes her punishment? either way, miller (whose words were also eerily similar to exact lines in the film) captured circe with incredible detail and nuance. from that, i also turned to carol ann duffy (legend) whose collection of poems, “the world’s wife” presents voices and perspectives from women (characters/history) and allows them to speak for themselves. circe included. a reminder that so-called “reimaginings” can in fact be exciting. after all, more stories equate to more wonder. who wouldnt want more? by @aa_noun

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a month ago

dar es salaam, a city of construction, not just mabati, matofali, bags of cement and rusted nails, but where one can come to make oneself, where cities, nations have been made, where old has met new, and new creations come to be born. tonight’s dose of culture at little theatre, an institution that has so many memories, not just mine but bibi’s too, from when they used to go on outings when she was at her nursing hostel as a young lady, performances of jack and jill and christmas pantomimes. culture is alive & well in our beloved city. @muda_africa doing amazing work, using dance to carry our culture, history, stories and youth potential. ‘sinful’ was an incredible show - about vices, passion and judgement. an additional treat, sitting next to bibi in the dark, she mentioned a dance they did that was a local nyakyusa ngoma. she whispered how, “I always feel some uneasiness seeing the dance, we were denied dancing this as it was seen as a so-called pagan tradition.” was lovely to see our mila na desturi on stage, kinu front and centre. not demonized, not simplified. adorned in glitter, rope, arches and wings. stunning. new one : #reviewarchives by @aa_noun

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a month ago

in the land of rooibos & protea, vaals & bomas. it was a pleasure to participate in the workshop ‘doing histories of science in Africa’ with colleagues at UCT in August. visiting south africa always brings such strong memories, a feeling that the past is being invoked, ghosts of past selves brushing past at or tambo or in waterfronts and malls. so, it was such a treat to make new memories, new connections, new conversations, and new insights in (south/african) academia. plus the bonus of going beyond the conventional format of PowerPoints and ‘start slideshow’ to the analog roots of academia: bulletpoint notes and voice. 📖 and i know, i know, they say don’t meet your heroes, but what an honour it was to meet and connect with Professor Evelynn Hammonds. for those who don’t know, Hammonds is a trailblazer in the field of history of science, black feminist methodologies and scientific racism. when we meet those that have paved the way for us, as the only [blank] in the room, whatever it has been, even if we still are the only [] in the room still, we say thank you, for that labour, for holding on, and an extra thank you to those who have moved with the times, kept up with the present. the rooms we enter today have been entered before, we are never alone, not in this space/time, not the past nor the future. and we must remember that our mentors, our inspirations used to congregate. solidarity has always been our forte, so that black [w]holes met critical fabulation met angela met audre and the final concoction was a mosaic of theorists/intellectuals grappling with exactly what we grapple with today. said before and will say again: we have our heroes, we have our elders, we have our continuum of intellectuals and thought. 🤲🏾 a blessing and massive gratitude to the UCT team, history of science society and the research journal isis. (+ extra thank you to the dept of historical studies, i will never get over seeing names that feature in in text-citations, footnotes and bibliographies in print, on pigeon holes and office doors.) by @aa_noun

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a month ago

DSM, July: our workshop on audio-visual heritage in east Africa was a space where we discussed the difficulties of working with archival films and photographs depicting violence and maltreatment of black life. i am grateful to have been able to share my annotation to the 1949 research film through a live poetic reading - in Kiswahili, thanks to @mama_mishe - and meditate on this heritage through pauses and invocations followed by discussions and many many useful notes. as @kitunguswaumu so poignantly framed it during a panel on archives and creative industries, “how do we return our own selves?” and yes, how do we? i am always honored by the opportunity to do such tender work with the past, in spite of the violence, trying to find return but also rest, mapumziko for them, ma bibi na ma babu zetu.

further info: researchfilm.net - tracing provenance: toward multivocal film histories - “beyond the blighted body”. a collaborative project between the University of Dar es Salaam and the University of Basel. by @aa_noun

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2 months ago

at the end of June, we celebrated @jlu.giessen ‘s International Graduate Center for the Study of Culture (GCSC) 20 years (+ GGK, 20 years). and when academics celebrate milestones they do it the only way they know how: conferences, panels, plenaries, lectures and Q&A’s. I was so grateful to have been invited to be on a panel discussing “response-abilities” of researchers, academics “in times of disruption, entanglements, and transformation”. my opening remarks were about rare flowers, ongoing legacies of scientific imperialism, the relevance of theory to real-life and going beyond ivory towers. also grateful for the opportunity to highlight research area 1 work on cultural memory studies and the amazing colleagues’ projects on histories of health, digital inclusion + belonging and how academic work can be useful for what happens all around us. by @aa_noun

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3 months ago

june, the hottest month, hottest week, hottest days of the year. and there might not be coincidence, but sometimes irony can feel so overwhelming obvious. depends the language you believe in - science, test tubes, exactitudes and objectivity, vs the wind, blurred faces, shadows and corridors. the ethnographic object was never mere object, but made into that, made into matter. the conference held @goetheunifrankfurt saw really interesting discussions about post-coloniality and decoloniality, about language but also about the irrelevance of it, that we need to go beyond semantics, where is the action, where is a new idea of a museum? If there can even be one, what would that look like? maybe without that name, that category, that logic of ‘museum’. audre lorde, 1979, the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house, audre lorde, 1979 the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house, audre lorde; so what will it be, hammer, bulldozer or a new toolbox? can you dare to dream? can you dare imagine? make a new world. by @aa_noun

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3 months ago

“i should not wish the soul of a poet on anyone - they look for divinity and beauty and ornament for meaning, meaning for ornament. They grieve for grace, they destroy their hearts with their own hands, eat their hearts.” - that sums it up really. adorned in poetic language, a love letter to the swahili coast, to Mombasa, to all the contradictions and bougainvillea. when you write, if anything, make sure you write for yourself. thats the biggest achievement. being true to oneself. #researchives by @aa_noun

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4 months ago

some archival notes i read recently stated that “‘desturi’ is the African’s favorite word” - and it is, the customs and beliefs that guide us (good/bad/sometimes necessary to revise and remake). and as much as we talk about colonialism, we know there was resistance. and as much as we talk about defeat there was also resilience. and with ruin, there can be repair. at least that’s what we must tell ourselves. especially when what is at stake is a whole history of a people. for me, ‘sukuma’ placeholder for local culture, ‘ntemi/body’ placeholder for community power, institutions and traditions so deep. - one of my favorite words: ‘cosmologies’, it points to an inner world far beyond the cold hubris and megalomania of the colonial mind.

pictured here in berlin, (a city silhouetted by so much of the ugliness of history you can feel it like a shadow) june ‘26, museums as “monuments to the colonial troops”. conference @ TU Berlin, the home of the atlas of absence, fifteen colonial thefts, and that inescapable, infamous report. amidst the rolled out scrolls of paper, inventories and statistics of looting, there are tongues that have grown heavy from reciting the same narrative of death, ears that have grown sore from hearing the same roll-call of vile names, photographs of defilements so base, unspeakable, so obviously evil that one would not dare say, “colonialism also brought good” or “get over it” or even the tried and tested, “but they brought schools”.

and the legacies: violence begets violence, in denied visas, referencing guidelines, slow/cut internet, permission forms, unanswered queries and catalogue entries marked “unknown”. but back to the museum, not that one, not those ones, but one of my absolute favorite museums and places, bujora, a place where culture is not held by a single vitrine, where black snakes curl around each other in a corner, and birds hop around while you sort through yellowed-papers and take a boda back down the hill. i am trying to do pre-colonial history, post-colonially, post-it all, post - post - post, post-language one day, where i won’t speak of the ruin, where my mouth simply will not open to say it by @aa_noun

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4 months ago