Thesis Advisor: Hypatia Vourloumis 

Thesis: Birthing a Love Politics (o)

Augustus 2022

Abstract

From what bodies, subjectivities, epistemologies, and experiences is “Birthing a Love Politics” emerging from? What does the art of birthing a love politics entail? How can we define such an (un)doing praxis of death and (re)birth? How can we open up for collective healing journeys of remembering Oneness? Could love heal colonial trauma? “Birthing a Love Politics” explores the author’s personal experiences as feminist activist in Maputo, Mozambique as the centre for theorization; while engaging with the question What if the way we engage with the problem is part of the problem? by Bayo Akomolafe, the author opens up for an intimate, honest, and critical conversation about her/their experience within the movement, the reasons for having quit feminism and the concept of a warlike body generated in subliminal ways within the activist culture that has its worldview influenced by the paradigm of white modernity. At the middle of this thesis, there is a crack, an experimental poetic encounter inspired by experiences and events that compose the author’s Spiritual initiation as an Iya, a Mother in the Yoruba traditional spiritual system of Ifa. The last chapter envisions the possibilities of a love politics by centering a reflection on the racial issue based on the author's healing journey. The paper takes an experimental approach to writing, building a web that within an academic text intersects storytelling, decolonial thinking, animist spirituality and astrology, poetry, Bantu writing symbols and Ubuntu philosophy. 

Author: Marilú Mapengo Námoda