Two African feminists who met at work and became friends in a changing world filled with uncertainty and despair, exploring themes around beauty, joy, power, care, community and love on the path towards freedom for ourselves, our communities and our world. This conversation series is born out of a joint project we are curating for a fellowship programme we are part of. The ShiftThePower fellowship is a mobilizing force that seeks to highlight, harness, resource, legitimize and join up new ways of “deciding and doing” that are emerging around the world under the larger umbrella of movement generosity so that it can galvanize a vision of a good society and serve as a force for genuine and lasting change. As fellows, colleagues and friends, we are collaborating on this project to document the learnings and practices around care, to reimagine collective care in multiple crises, to document joy, and to reflect on possibilities of what care should look like in the development world.
Gloria (mugasha) Mugabekazi is an African Feminist whose work is premised on challenging systemic oppressions through an intersectional feminist lens and the reimagination of new worlds. She has worked at the nexus of gender justice, Sexual and Reproductive Justice and international development. In her experience, she has learned that all this work is impossible without care. Caring for our bodies, our planet, and those we are in community with. She loves to read, if she is not somewhere on the dance floor. She currently considers herself a “digital nomad” and enjoys traveling.
Buky is an African Feminist who just wants to take naps, love her people and eat good food. She wants to take over the world through peaceful means to usher in that better world we keep hoping and dreaming about. She works to advance Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, especially Sexual and Reproductive Justice, with an understanding that people, especially those who are pushed to the margins, do not live single issues. So, the work is about liberation for all.
Collective care is integral to shifting power practices. The practice of shifting power calls us to interrogate the oppressive systems we live in. The violence in these systems is dehumanising and exploitative of our bodies and minds. Centering care in shifting power practices helps us redefine our relationships with our bodies, with each other, and with the ways in which the various systems work together to exploit our creativity and energy.
We hope you will take this journey with us to imagine a liberated world where care and freedom are central to building institutions, coexisting with one another and working in a system that constantly pushes us into despair.
Welcome to our conversation series, “Who Cares?” Born out of the ShiftThePower fellowship, we, two African feminist friends, explore themes of beauty, joy, power, care, community, and love on the path to freedom.
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