Narratives of Closeness and Distance

from Central‐Eastern Europeand South‐Eastern Africa – a Multicontextual Patchwork

e-book

The idea behind the Deconfining project is based on the need to build sustainable relationships between cultural creators in different geographical spaces across Africa and Europe. At Art Transparent, we have set a goal to explore the rich connections between Central Europe and East Africa. The first result of our collaboration with the Women’s History Museum in Lusaka and Nafasi Art Spaces in Dar es Salaam is the e-publication “Narratives of Closeness and Distance from Central-Eastern Europe and South-East Africa. A Multicontextual Patchwork,” edited by Dr. Urszula Markowska-Manista and Natasha Omakhodion Kalulu Banda.

In podcasts dedicated to the publication, we invite authors, project creators, translators, and those involved in the project to discuss the actual distance between the two regions described.

The first part of the podcast series, produced in Polish in collaboration with editor Miła Bożek from Polish Radio Wrocław, introduces Polish audiences to the project’s goals, the publication itself, and the work of Polish authors whose texts are included in the e-publication. The second part is produced by the Women’s History Museum in Lusaka, where Samba Yonga (in English) interviews the authors from Southeast Africa. The museum has named its part of the series “Narratives In Between.” It consists of five conversations showcasing the diverse landscapes of Central-Eastern Europe and Southeast Africa, offering a rich, multicontextual mosaic of stories from a Zambian perspective.

Art Transparent

3.07.2024

10.07.2024

17.07.2024

24.07.2024

31.07.2024

 

Women’s History Museum

 

By bringing together artists, scholars and practitioners from diverse contexts and countries (Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia) who search for common points and connections in intercontinental history, memories, art, science and fine literature, we were searching for innovative ways of looking at that which is near and far, while exploring the world of Central and Eastern Europe (i.e. Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) and South-Eastern Africa (i.e. Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia).

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Edited by: Urszula Markowska-Manista & Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda

Authors: Karolina Bieniek, Paulina Brelińska-Garsztka, Shilika Chisoko, Chiteu Kasongo, Kamil Kawalec, Urszula Markowska-Manista, Karolina Marcinkowska, Mwaka Siluonde, Nyimbili Suzyika, Klara Wojtkowska

Publisher: Art Transparent

Co-publisher: Pro Progressione

Proofreading: Ian Maloy

Translation: Karol Waniek Graphic

design: Oleg Šuran

The publication is also available in simplified versions in the following languages:

Subject: Partnership in International Cultural Cooperation

  • Online meeting on 28.10 at 3:00 PM
  • Language: English
  • Registration required via Evenea

Participants: Lilian Hipolyte (Tanzania), Samba Yonga (Zambia), Panka Paskuj (Hungary), Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz (Poland)
Moderator: Harun Mwadena Muyesi

Harun Mwadena Muyesi has over nine years of experience in grassroots youth development, championing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), social accountability, climate justice, and policy analysis for marginalized communities in Kenya’s Kilifi, Mombasa, and Kwale counties. With expertise in project management, proposal development, stakeholder engagement, and social networking, Harun is dedicated to connecting changemakers and catalyzing collaborative approaches. Since 2020, he has united organizations, networks, and young leaders to co-create solutions, enhance resource-sharing, and champion localized SDG actions. He is particularly skilled in designing both virtual and in-person learning sessions that emphasize peer exchange, knowledge sharing, and meaningful collaborations, strengthening ties and empowering collective action within East Africa and beyond.
Harun is a member of Bosch Alumni Network.

Samba Yonga is an award winning journalist, communications specialist and cultural curator based in Lusaka Zambia. She is co-founder of the Women’s History Museum of Zambia, established in 2017 with the mandate to research and restore African indigenous narratives, knowledge and ‘living histories’ focused on women. Samba is also founder and managing partner of Ku-Atenga Media, a firm specialised in designing strategic communications for African landscapes that has expanded its client network across the African region and the globe. Samba has been recognised as 100 most influential Africans by Quartz, New York, and one of 40 most influential Africans. She is also a Google Podcast Creator, TEDx Lusaka speaker and is a Museum Lab Fellow for 2022. She has curated exhibitions, designed digital creative content and written papers focused on indigenous African knowledge systems and narratives in Zambia and Africa. The museum has collaborated with art spaces, museums and universities in Africa, Europe and the US such as National Musuems of World Cultures in Sweden, Museum of Women in Umea, Yale University in Boston,USA, Windybrow Art Centre in South Africa, Europeana in the Netherlands, University of Shangahai, China, International Council of Museums (ICOM) and many others. The museum has collaborated with international museums and cultural organisations to identify indigenous African cultural heritage of women from Zambia and the African continent and is working to create digital platforms and tools to transition and provide access of this heritage to African and global publics in collaboration with the source communities. The objective is to interrogate knowledge asymmetries created by colonialism and obscured experiences and to investigate transformative methods of how it can impact the future of knowledge production in the museum, creative and knowledge sectors. Her work with Ku-Atenga Media and The Women’s History Museum has established her work prominently on the African continent and globally. She is a graduate of the Evelyn Hone College School of Journalism and holds an MA in Transnational Communications and Global Media from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Dr Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz is an art historian and curator who focuses on inter-local perspectives in her research of socio-political contexts of contemporary art and the legacies of the east-central European post-war avant-gardes. She has graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art (MA in Global Conceptualism with prof. Sarah Wilson and prof. Boris Groys, 2011; PhD with dr Klara Kemp-Welch, 2018). In her PhD thesis she analysed networked art of the 1970s, focusing in particular on mail art in Poland, through the ideas of political dissidence and social and geopolitical transformations. In her curatorial practice she works mostly with neo-avant-garde and contemporary video and photography. She was the Collections’ Curator at Wrocław Contemporary Museum (2017-2019) and has curated exhibitions and research programmes in Poland and abroad. As a writer and editor, she combines her curatorial and research practices also by organising research conferences. She is a recipient of AHRC grants and holds a postgraduate diploma in Management of Art and Culture from Warsaw School of Economics.

Panka Paskuj is a dramaturg working in both theatre and film, dedicated to advancing human rights and equality through her work. Passionate about artistic activism, she uses the arts to foster social change and advocate for marginalized communities. Alongside her presence in cultural management and activism, Panka serves as an associate producer at a film production company, contributing her talents to bring compelling stories to the screen. Through her work, she aims to inspire action and create a more just and equitable world.

Lilian Hipolyte is an experienced Creative Director and Brand Strategist with over fourteen years of experience in the creative industry. During the Social Scene meetings, she will participate as the Director of Nafasi Art Space.

Narratives of Closeness and Distance from Central – Eastern Europe and South – Eastern Africa. Discussion around the publication

  • Online meeting on October 14th, 3:00 PM
  • Language: English
  • Registration required via the Evenea portal

Participants: Dr. Urszula Markowska-Manista and Shilika Chisoko
Moderator: Ruth Atim

Ruth Atim is a freelance journalist, former news editor of broadcast and online media, cybersecurity trainer, and advocate for gender equality in the tech industry. She is the founder of Gender Tech Initiative Uganda, an organization dedicated to supporting female journalists facing online harassment and promoting gender equality in technology. With a strong background in media, Ruth leverages her experience to empower women and girls in the digital landscape. Beyond cybersecurity training, she is passionate about inspiring young rural school girls to pursue science subjects and careers in STEM fields through mentorship and guidance.
Ruth is a member of Bosch Alumni Network.

Urszula Markowska-Manista, PhD – researcher in the area of education and childhoods in culturally diverse environments, conducting interdisciplinary fieldwork in a variety of contexts (the Horn of Africa, Central Africa, Central & Eastern Europe, and the South Caucasus). Her work draws on inclusive and participatory approaches, decolonial methodologies, interclusion, ‘difficult knowledge’ and sensitive topics. She has been active in the social sciences for two decades, implementing international projects and holding positions at universities in Poland and Germany. From 2016-2021 she was a director (FU Berlin 2016) and co-director (2017-2021 FH Potsdam) of the international MA Childhood Studies and Children’s Rights (MACR) programme and from 2017-2018 a head of the UNESCO Janusz Korczak Chair at the Maria Grzegorzewska University. She is currently a researcher and assistant professor at the University of Warsaw (Faculty of Education). Among her publications are books, including Konkultura: Wymiary uczestnictwa w kulturze młodych imigrantów z Ukrainy w Polsce (co-author, 2020) and Non-inclusive education in Central and Eastern Europe: comparative studies of teaching ethnicity, religion and gender (co-editor, 2022) as well as articles in journals and book chapters for Sage, Routledge, Springer and others. She is the regional editor of Bloomsbury Publishers on the subject of Childhood and Youth. In 2015, she received Polityka award for her academic activity.

Shilika Chisoko is an author, currently pursuing a Masters in English Studies at Stellenbosch University. Her research focuses on contemporary Zambian women’s short fiction and online subcultures. She is particularly interested in the ways in which individuals represent themselves online and challenge dominant narratives.
Author of the text ‘Undoing the Knots of Place and Space An exploration of the possibilities rendered by depictions of violence in selected contemporary in Zambian short fiction’ published in the volume ‘Narratives of Closeness and Distance from Central-Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Africa a Multicontextual Patchwork “.

The event will be attended by the editors and authors of the texts included in the e-publication.

The meeting will be preceded by a conversation with curator Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz, who will talk about the experiences of those who took part in the artist residency in Tanzania, which ended in February this year.
The meeting will be moderated by: dr Karolina Bieniek, dr Urszula Markowska-Manista

Podcast Afryka bliska i odległa by Art Transparent

3.07.2024

10.07.2024

17.07.2024

24.07.2024

31.07.2024

Supported by members of Bosch Alumni Network

Project “Deconfining arts, culture and policies in Europe and Africa (DECONFINING)” co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

The task entitled “Deconfining Arts, Culture and Politics in Europe and Africa” has been co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state purpose fund, as part of the Promesa dla Kultury programme.

– co-financing: PLN 340,024.56 zł
– total value of the task: PLN 1,111,818.37