Post by Bérénice Kafui Schramm, PhD (she/her/they)

Last week was inspirational. Or rather, I was fortunate enough to listen to, engage with, remember, and admire incredible individuals whose work cannot but inspire. It reminds me of a beautiful Call for Papers recently put out by Lucy Hall on 'Rage as Repair' seeking reflections on the 'creative possibilities of anger and rage'. https://lnkd.in/dpirwaNB Many of us, especially in the field of international law, social justice, and art, act out of anger and rage. Or act to avoid feeling anger and rage; to transform the conditions which are conducive to anger and rage; to use them as 'productive spaces for seeking justice'. I was reminded of this by: - the monumental French writer Marie Ndiaye who spoke about her work, her craft and a bit about her life, last week at Université Galatasaray, in an interview brilliantly led by Gülseren Şen. Ndiaye agreed with one of the questions put to her by a member of the audience that her 'Three Powerful Women' displayed unusual modes of 'power' (puissance) which translated into subdued resistance. - a powerful conversation with Fernanda Ordaz, a cultural mediation fellow in residence at Museo Nacional del Prado, in which we reflected on the need to make something of the rage that comes out of recognizing structural barriers to accessibility to art and culture, even when – all the more so – when these barriers have shaped our own trajectory. - the joy I felt at learning that the brilliant Zeina Jallad, LL. M., J.S.D. has been appointed Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures (UCM) and their impact on the enjoyment of human rights by the United Nations Human Rights Council at its 61st session on March 31, 2026, for a mandate of 6 years. https://lnkd.in/dhYVQN74 - all African women thinkers I still did not know and who are listed, non-exhaustively, in this unique and much needed Call for Papers put together by Yolande Bouka, Peace A. Medie, and Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso for a future special issue of the interdisciplinary journal Global Black Thought. May the inspiration spread further. May our work, as the Call aptly invites it, 'move[s] beyond narrow disciplinary or textual definitions of intellectualism,” foregrounding the multiple sites where African women [and many of us, modestly following in their steps] theorize, including homes, political movements, classrooms, literary forms, healing and spiritual practices, markets, community organizations, religious organizations, state institutions, art spaces, and digital platforms, to mention a few.' --- I share the whole Call in the comments. Deadline to submit is 30 April 2026.