Is Artivism the Missing Link in the Quest for Justice in Africa and Globally?
615 Crothers Way, Stanford, CA 94305
Room 123
In a world grappling with complex social injustices, the fusion of art and activism has emerged as a powerful force for change. Is Artivism the elusive link that Africa and the world seek in their quest for justice? This lecture will also reflect on how African civil society is responding to the communications challenges that activism faces and emerging responses to it. This lecture invites participants to ponder: Can Artivism be the missing link in our shared pursuit of justice, both in Africa and beyond?
In a world grappling with complex social injustices, the fusion of art and activism has emerged as a powerful force for change. Is Artivism the elusive link that Africa and the world seek in their quest for justice? This lecture will also reflect on how African civil society is responding to the communications challenges that activism faces and emerging responses to it. This lecture invites participants to ponder: Can Artivism be the missing link in our shared pursuit of justice, both in Africa and beyond?
Event will be followed by a reception at Bechtel Courtyard.
Kumi Naidoo is currently the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Centre on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. Kumi is a South African human rights and environmental justice activist. He is the former Secretary-General of Amnesty International and also the first person from the Global South to lead Greenpeace International. Kumi served as Head of Training at the Independent Electoral Commission, the body that oversaw South Africa’s first democratic elections in April 1994 and served as one of its spokespersons. He is a senior advisor for the Community Arts Network and is active in his local community through the Yeoville Bellevue Residents’ Association. He is professor of practice at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, and continues to serve as a global ambassador for Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity. His family has started the Riky Rick Foundation for the Promotion of Artivism to build on the positive legacies left by popular South African rapper Rikhado “Riky Rick” Makhado through his music and life’s work. Kumi is the author of Letters To My Mother: The Makings of a Troublemaker, a memoir that won non-fiction book of the year from the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and was recently longlisted for the Sunday Times non fiction award. Kumi is also the host of the podcast Power, People and Planet.