Manthia Diawara, professor of African studies and comparative literature at New York University (NYU), is the next guest of the open class cycle at the Escola das Artes da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in Porto. In a roundtable format, the open class has the participation of the German Ulrich Bauer and will take place on March 17, at 6:30 pm, in a face-to-face mode open to students and the entire community.
“Every year, the School of Arts of the Catholic University focuses on the most relevant themes around contemporary artistic practices. In these public sessions open to the community, our students come into contact with artists, curators and thinkers who are at the forefront of their respective fields“, says professor Daniel Ribas, coordinator of the Masters in Cinema at Escola das Artes, adding “the conversation between Manthia Diawara and Ulrich Bauer will focus on the African academic’s proposals on decolonial ways of looking at the world, which are also present in the films directed by Diawara and which are projected at EA during the next Cineclube sessions”.
Born in Mali, Manthia Diawara studied in France and the United States. He is a professor of African studies and comparative literature at New York University (NYU) and has taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of works such as: We Won’t Budge: An African Exile in the World (Basic Civitas Books, 2003); Black-American Cinema: Aesthetics and Spectatorship (ed. Routledge, 1993); African Cinema: Politics and Culture (Indiana University Press, 1992); and In Search of Africa (Harvard University Press, 1998). He also collaborated with Ngûgî wa Thiong’o in directing the documentary Sembene Ousmane: The Making of the African Cinema, and directed the documentary Rouch in Reverse, produced in Germany.
The Open Classes 2022 program of the Escola das Artes da Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Porto integrates artists, researchers, and activists from different areas and contexts. The meetings aim to contribute to contemporary debates surrounding artistic practices and critical thinking.
