Naminata Diabate
Naminata Diabate | |
|---|---|
| Education | Université de Cocody University of Texas at Austin |
| Occupations | Scholar, professor |
| Employer | Cornell University |
| Known for | African feminist theory, protest studies |
| Notable work | Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa |
Naminata Diabate is an Ivorian scholar, author, and Associate professor of Comparative literature at Cornell University.[1][2] She is the author of Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa.[1]
Education
Diabate earned her undergraduate degree from the Université de Cocody in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.[1][3] She received her M.A. (2006) and Ph.D. (2011) in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, with concentrations in African Diaspora Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies.[1][3]
Academic career
Diabate is an associate professor at Cornell University.[4] She held the Robert and Helen Appel Fellowship for Humanists and Social Scientists at Cornell in 2020, for academic excellence.[4] Diabate is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Africa Institute in Sharjah, UAE, and served as an Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow from 2021 to 2023.[5] In 2024, Diabate was named one of the "10 African Scholars to Watch" by The Africa Report, alongside Simukai Chigudu, Toyin Ajao and Satang Nabaneh.[1]
Naked Agency
Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa examines the use of insurrectional nudity and genital cursing as forms of political protest and embodied resistance in African contexts.[6][7] The book has been cited as a significant contribution to African feminist scholarship and biopolitical studies, offering new frameworks for understanding protest, embodiment, and power.[8][9] Ololade Faniyi's review in Feminist Africa highlights how the book challenges simplistic, overly romanticised narratives of African women's defiant disrobing as purely empowering or victimising.[10]
Awards
- African Studies Association (ASA), Best Book Prize, 2021.[1]
- African Literature Association (ALA), First Book Award 2022.[1]
Selected publications
- Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa (Duke University Press, 2020). ISBN 9781478006886
- "Jean Pierre Bekolo’s Les Saignantes and the Mevoungou: Ambivalence towards the African Woman’s Body". In Women, Gender, and Sexualities in Africa, edited by Toyin Falola and Nana Akua Amponsah, pp. 21–39. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2013. ISBN 9781611631531.
- "Genital Power: Female Sexuality in West African Literature and Film". Research in African Literatures, Vol. 42, No. 4 (2011): 72–93.
- "From Women Loving Women in Africa to Jean Genet and Race: A Conversation with Frieda Ekotto". Journal of the African Literature Association, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2010): 181–203.
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bojang Jnr, Sheriff (23 January 2024). "10 African scholars to watch in 2024". The Africa Report. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ "Agency of/in African Studies: Of Naked Agency and Open Reading". Department of History, University of Toronto. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- 1 2 "Naminata Diabate – Knowledge Commons". Humanities Commons. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- 1 2 "Naminata Diabate". Cornell University. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ "Naminata Diabate". The Africa Institute. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ "Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa". Duke University Press. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ Nyangweso, Mary (29 September 2025). "Review of Naked Agency". African Studies Review: 1–2. doi:10.1017/asr.2025.10120. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ Gouws, Amanda (2025). "Naked agency: its versatile applicability". Journal of African Cultural Studies: 1–8. doi:10.1080/17533171.2024.2429843. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ Abiona, Oladoyin (2021). "Naminata Diabate, Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa". Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry. 9 (2): 284–286. doi:10.1017/pli.2022.4. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ Faniyi, Ololade (December 2024). "Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa by Naminata Diabate" (PDF). Feminist Africa. 5 (3): 157–163. Retrieved 14 July 2026.