A dynamic night of discussion, dance, music, and comedy.
Following a packed out event in 2014 with Women Against Fundamentalism, SAWCC London join Feminist Dissent and the University of Warwick to celebrate the launch of a new journal that brings together feminist academics, activists, writers and artists to produce critical insights on gender, fundamentalism and related socio-political issues.
Programme:
Discussion: Karima Bennoune in conversation with Maureen Freely
Karima Bennoune is a Professor of Law, University of California, Davis School of Law; Author of “Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Story from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism”, and United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights. She will be talking about her work with Maureen Freely, Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies, President of English PEN, author of seven novels, and the translator of five books by the Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk.
Dance: Nahid Siddiqui
Nahid Siddiqui is one of the finest Kathak dancers and choreographers in the world. Her creations have been original and ground-breaking, blending traditional and contemporary techniques extending Kathak’s repertory and developing it as a universal vocabulary. She left Pakistan for the UK during the 1970s because Zia Ul Haq’s regime viewed Kathak as un-Islamic.
Reading : Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
An award-winning playwright. Her plays include Behsharam (Shameless); Behzti (Dishonour), which caused a media storm in 2004 and was controversially cancelled; Khandan (Family); and Behud (Beyond Belief). Screen credits include Everywhere And Nowhere, andEastEnders. She also writes regularly for BBC4 radio drama The Archers.
Comedy: Daphna Baram
Stand up comedian and commentator (The Guardian, The Independent, Ha’aretz, AlJazeera,BBC).
Music: DJ Ritu
Pioneering British South Asian feminist DJ, turntablist & BBC Radio presenter, co-founder of Outcaste Records, and manager of two popular London club nights: Kuch Kuch and Club Kali.
Hosts: South Asian Women’s Creative Collective (SAWCC) London, in collaboration with Warwick University
SAWCC London (pronounced “saucy”) — the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective — are a creative network of women artists and appreciators with origins from, or a keen interest in South Asia and diaspora. SAWCC nurture independently-forged British South Asian female creative expression across disciplines. Featuring free and popular public events, SAWCC offer a platform for women to share, develop, and promote creative ideas and works. Founded in 2004, SAWCC London is the sister organisation of SAWCC New York.
Feminist Dissent – A new journal housed by the University of Warwick, providing innovative and critical insights on gender fundamentalism and related socio-political issues. It will open up new ways of thinking about secularism, religious freedom, civil liberties and human rights, nationalism and identity politics, anti-racism and multiculturalism, neoliberalism, and feminist resistance.