“Girl, You Are a New Species of Krazy”
On 18 April 2016, Dr Stella Nyanzi, then, a researcher at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) stripped in protest against being evicted from her office by Professor Mahmood Mamdani, Director of MISR. The conflict that had been brewing for years between the two was primarily around Nyan...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Johannesburg
2022-10-01
|
| Series: | Communicare |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1539 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | On 18 April 2016, Dr Stella Nyanzi, then, a researcher at the Makerere Institute of Social Research
(MISR) stripped in protest against being evicted from her office by Professor Mahmood Mamdani,
Director of MISR. The conflict that had been brewing for years between the two was primarily
around Nyanzi’s refusal to teach on the PhD programme at MISR. Though Nyanzi had people
endorsing her choice of protest, others criticised her. Drawing on the Othering theory, this paper
examines the ways in which criticisms to Dr Nyanzi’s protest were represented on YouTube.
First, Nyanzi was framed on the social media platform as mad. Second, Nyanzi was regarded as
having contravened behaviour expected of ‘educated people.’ Third, her stripping was framed
as unholy and unAfrican. Fourth, Nyanzi’s undressing was labelled criminal. Nyanzi’s othering
served to discredit her protest. Many of Nyanzi’s critics neglected to engage with the issues that
she raised.
|
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0259-0069 2957-7950 |