Kairos 40th Anniversary Gathering

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Kairos 40th Anniversary Gathering

Womandla Campaign

Gender, Genocide, Gaza and the Book of Esther: Engaging Texts of Terror(ism) by Sarojini Nadar

Published by Ferial Marlie at 19/05/2025

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We are thrilled to announce the release of Gender, Genocide, Gaza and the Book of Esther: Engaging Texts of Terrorism by Professor Sarojini Nadar, published by Routledge.

📘 Publication Date: 21 May 2025
🔗 Purchase a copy here: Routledge

Professor Nadar, a renowned scholar and activist, continues her bold work at the intersections of religion, gender, and justice. Drawing powerful connections between the ancient story of Esther and contemporary crises such as the ongoing violence in Gaza, Professor Nadar challenges readers to critically engage with sacred texts and their modern-day political ramifications.

Read more about Professor Nadar’s work, and the book, here.

Upcoming events

Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice
is with Sarojini Nadar.

6 days ago

Celebrating Prof Sarojini Nadar at the 2025 South African Women in Science AwardsWe are delighted to share that our Director, Prof Sarojini Nadar, Desmond Tutu SARChI Chair in Religion and Social Justice, was named First Runner-Up in the Distinguished Woman Researcher: Humanities and Social Sciences category at the 2025 South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA), on 21 August 2025. This honour places Prof Nadar among the top three women researchers nationally across the Humanities and Social Sciences. Out of more than 300 nominations, only 30 finalists were selected. The winner in this category was a senior scholar from the Medical Research Council, while the second runner-up was based in Public Health at the University of Cape Town. That such diverse fields were evaluated in a single category highlights the difficulty of adjudicating across disciplines. Yet it also makes this recognition all the more meaningful: in a landscape where scientific and medical research often dominates, the acknowledgement of religion as a field of serious scholarship underscores its importance for engaging the world’s most urgent questions of justice, ethics, and human flourishing.Prof Nadar’s research exemplifies this mission. Her latest book, Gender, Genocide, Gaza and the Book of Esther: Engaging Texts of Terror(ism) (Routledge, 2025), brings the study of sacred text into dialogue with contemporary crises, illuminating the intersections of religion, gender, violence, and politics. Her recognition at SAWiSA affirms that scholarship at the intersection of religion and social justice not only advances academic debates but also speaks powerfully to global struggles for equity and dignity.Beyond her own publications, Prof Nadar has played a central role in cultivating the next generation of scholars. She has successfully supervised 21 PhD and 18 Master’s graduates, while continuing to mentor postdoctoral fellows and early career researchers. She is a B2-rated scholar with the National Research Foundation (NRF), an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) where she serves on its Council, and she has contributed her expertise at the highest levels of leadership, including on the Presidential Advisory Committee for the National Orders and the United Nations Faith and Feminism Working Group.On the occasion of her award, Prof Nadar also appeared on SABC’s Morning Live, where she reflected on the intellectual legacy of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the importance of the Humanities, and UWC’s continued solidarity with Palestine.For the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, this award affirms our conviction that the study of religion—too often marginalised as secondary to the so-called “harder” sciences—remains vital for analysing and transforming the structures of injustice that shape our world.
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Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice

3 weeks ago

Dear friends, the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice invites you to a seminar with Dr. Trifonia Melibea Obono Ntutumu.Queer Women’s Bodies and Colonial Legacies in the Works of Koleka Putuma, Musih Tedji Xaviere, and Zanele MuholiThis seminar traces the ways in which the creative works of Musih Tedji Xaviere (novelist and activist), Koleka Putuma (poet, playwright, and activist), and Zanele Muholi (photographer and visual activist) represent and protect the queer Black female body against the backdrop of colonial legacies in sub-Saharan Africa. Through literary, visual, and performative practices, these artists denounce the multiple forms of violence—political, religious, and social—that persist in Cameroon and South Africa, often sanctioned by religious ideologies inherited from colonial Christianity, Catholicism, and Islam.The analysis draws upon trauma theory, particularly Judith Lewis Herman’s (1992) view of trauma as a force that can challenge dominant structures and create possibilities for collective and personal recovery, and Cathy Caruth’s (1996) emphasis on trauma’s testimonial and transformative potential. These frameworks provide a lens through which to interpret the artists’ works as sites of resistance, healing, and identity reconstruction.By examining the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and nationality in the narratives and imagery produced by these artists, this paper argues that their work constructs new imaginaries of womanhood that disrupt both traditional African and Western norms of femininity. In centering queer women’s bodies as subjects of care, resistance, and agency, their work reclaims visibility and affirms multiplicity in African feminist discourse.About the SpeakerTrifonia Melibea Obono Ntutumu is a scholar, writer, and activist with a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies and Equality Policies from the University of Salamanca. She taught Journalism and Political Science at the National University of Equatorial Guinea from 2012 to 2023 and is now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Duisburg-Essen, supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Her research focuses on Spanish-language literatures from sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, Afro-Hispanic studies, decolonial feminisms, and queer theory. Obono is also an acclaimed literary author with over six novels and numerous short stories and essays, recognized for her bold engagement with gender, sexuality, and belonging in Central Africa, challenging normative discourses on these topics.About the RespondentRozena Maart holds the South African Research Chair on The National Question and earned her PhD from the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on Political Philosophy, Black Consciousness, Derridean deconstruction, and psychoanalysis related to race, gender, sexuality, coloniality, and identity. At 24, she was nominated for “Woman of the Year” in South Africa for her work in gender-based violence and co-founding Women Against Repression (W.A.R.). Maart, a fiction writer, won “The Journey Prize” in 1992. Maart has received various accolades, including the William R. Jones lifetime achievement award, and the Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. In 2022, she became a Mercator Fellow at the University of Bremen.⸻📍Desmond Tutu Centre Boardroom, New Arts Building, UWC🗓 Monday, 18 August 2025🕛 12:00–14:00RSVP as space is limited: forms.gle/a2Lg7h4U4AwxYk8d8
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