Christelle Taraud and Nosizwe Baqwa
As France began its colonisation of Africa in the 19th century, the organisation and regulation of prostitutes for the army was one of the first things to be implemented. Sex work in the colonies became a formalised market, consisting of workers from the local population. Basing her research on judicial and military archives, newspapers, text fragments and art, Christelle Taraud has studied the lives of these women, their stories seldom told.
Following the dismantling of the colonies, the ideology that followed eroticised “exotic” bodies, and shaped the continued sexualisation of people of colour. How are the histories of colonialism and prostitution linked, and how have they influenced the western gaze on the postcolonial female body?
Christelle Taraud is a French historian specialising in the history of gender and sexuality in a postcolonial frame, particularly in the Maghreb (North Africa). She teaches for Columbia University, New York University og CUPA in Paris, and is attached to the Sorbonne University as a researcher. She will give a presentation on colonial prostitution, before joining political scientist and artist Nosizwe Baqwa for a conversation on the colonisation of the female body.
The event will be in english.
Litteraturhuset Skram https://litteraturhuset.ticketco.events/no/nb/e/koloniseringen_av_kvinnekroppen_christelle_taraud_og_nosizwe_baqwa English