Decolonial | The Harriet Tubman Institute

Esther Feza Borauzima

rebsl — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:31:32 +0000

Borauzima Feza Esther is a Congolese researcher and lecturer, holding a Master’s degree in Political science from the Université Officielle de Bukavu and a Master’s degree in Gender Studies from the Université Catholique de Louvain. She is currently pursuing a doctoral program at the University of Mons within the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

Her doctoral research examines the relationship between armed dynamics in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the environment, through an anthropological reading of gender. Her research is based on four empirical configurations operating in and around the Virunga National Park, located in eastern DRC: (1) Women fighters in armed groups, (2) Former female combatants incarcerated for espionage, (3) Female rangers of Virunga National Park, and (4) Female forest resource traders. She investigates how the agency of these women unfolds differently across temporal and spatial contexts.

Keywords: Armed conflicts, women, agency, environment, afrofeminism, decolonial, DRC

Zachary Scola-Allison

rebsl — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 19:56:56 +0000

A writer and award-winning artist and curator, Zachary's research focuses on the idea of the artist as brand, exploring the concept's interaction with race, class, and identity. His research offers a decolonising analysis of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artworks, exploring the impact of Basquiat’s Afro-Caribbean heritage, appropriation, and commodification on his work. Central to his study is the popular labeling of Basquiat as “The Black Picasso,” a moniker that both includes and others the artist within the Western art canon. Using theoretical frameworks such as Homi K. Bhabha's concepts of mimicry and hybridity to interpret semiotic analyses of image and text within a postcolonial framework, Zachary critically examines how Basquiat’s art functions as a postcolonial counter-narrative. His work will contribute to the decolonisation of cultural narratives, exploring the effects of commodifying BIPOC artists.

Keywords: Decolonial, Postcolonial, African Diaspora, Basquiat, Branding, Commodification, Capitalism, Anti-Racism