Campagne 'Décoloniser La Beauté' (en français)

  

COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE

ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS lance
sa campagne Décoloniser La Beauté 

Une célébration de la beauté africaine traditionnelle

DAKAR, Sénégal

29 juin 2024

ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS est fière d'annoncer le lancement officiel de Décoloniser La Beauté, une campagne unique conçue pour éduquer le public et célébrer la riche diversité des coutumes de beauté locales et indigènes à travers l'Afrique. 

Dans un monde de plus en plus dominé par les normes de beauté occidentales promues par la culture pop et l'industrie mondiale de la beauté, Décoloniser La Beauté  cherche à remettre en question les perceptions étroites et à présenter les multiples facettes des traditions historiques de beauté dans les diverses cultures d'Afrique.

Cette campagne utilisera une approche multiplateforme pour atteindre un large public d'anglophones et de francophones dans le monde entier.

Jusqu'à la fin de l'année 2024, une série d'initiatives de la campagne sera annoncée. Ces initiatives sont les suivantes : 

Couronne de boucles : Une ode aux cheveux africains 

Un challenge sur les réseaux sociaux destiné à encourager les créateurs de contenu à apprécier les coiffures africaines et à inspirer leur public. 

Annonce : juillet

Racines sur bobines : Présenter la beauté africaine à travers le cinéma  

Un concours de courts-métrages sur smartphone destiné aux cinéastes africains afin qu'ils présentent des portraits cinématographiques des coutumes de beauté pratiquées dans leurs communautés. 

Annonce : août

Beauté de la terre mère : Une exploration poétique de la beauté africaine traditionnelle 

Un concours de poésie destiné aux poètes africains pour exprimer l'essence de la beauté africaine à travers le pouvoir des mots.  

Annonce : septembre

Lumières sur la beauté africaine: Un projet de photojournalisme 

un appel aux photojournalistes pour qu'ils capturent l'essence des pratiques traditionnelles africaines en matière de beauté à travers leur objectif. 

Annonce : septembre

Hairitage in Motion : Une célébration en direct des coiffures africaines 

Un spectacle de coiffure en direct et une présentation d'arts de la scène mettant en valeur l'art et la diversité des coiffures africaines.

Décembre

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Pour ne rien rater de cette campagne, retrouvez ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS sur les réseaux sociaux. 

https://www.instagram.com/zikora.media.arts/ 

https://www.tiktok.com/@zikora.media.arts

https://x.com/ZikoraMediaArts 

https://www.facebook.com/zikoramediaandarts 

Suivez la campagne #DecolonizingBeautyZikora

Pour plus d'informations sur ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS, veuillez consulter le site https://www.zikoramedia.com/ ou envoyer un courriel à info@zikoramedia.com 

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À PROPOS DE ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS :

Lancée à Abuja, au Nigeria, en 2023, ZIKORA Media & Arts est une société de production médiatique et une institution culturelle qui produit, préserve et promeut un contenu créatif et artistique qui capture les histoires nuancées de l'Afrique et des Africains. Zikora signifie "montrer le monde" dans la langue Igbo du sud-est du Nigeria. La devise de l'organisation est de montrer au monde ce que cela signifie d'être authentiquement africain. 

ZIKORA concrétise sa vision par l'intermédiaire de ses six branches créatives : Film et télévision ; Journalisme et médias d'information ; Arts littéraires ; Arts de la scène ; Événements ; The Collective Tree, qui est une communauté de soutien pour les artistes. Un réseau Afrique francophone est en place pour se connecter aux Africains francophones. 

ZIKORA a un certain nombre de projets en cours, notamment un long métrage documentaire en cours de production, une initiative de formation à la danse ouest-africaine au Sénégal et une publication en ligne appelée DIASPORA, qui publie des essais personnels sur les expériences et les identités interculturelles des Africains vivant en dehors de l'Afrique.

Notre vision est de capturer les expériences, les expressions et les impressions de l'Afrique et des Africains à travers une narration immersive, créative et pluridisciplinaire produite dans des formes multimédias, notamment la photographie, la danse, la poésie, les arts visuels et le cinéma.

SOURCE

ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS

Israeli scholar Ilan Pappé - our interview

France's tense political climate mirrors Israel's, says scholar Ilan Pappé - our interview:

Israeli historian Ilan Pappé has seen his book 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine' reissued in France after a French publisher pulled it from shelves.

He tells RFI that it fits with a broader political climate that limits freedom of expression, both across Europe and in Israel...

Read from this link: https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20240628-france-s-tense-political-climate-mirrors-israel-s-says-scholar-ilan-papp%C3%A9

 

By: Melissa Chemam | Jan van der Made 

RFI: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine has been republished in French by La Fabrique after its original publisher, Fayard, cancelled a reprint and took it out of bookshops. What was your reaction?

Ilan Pappé: I was surprised to hear that Fayard decided to stop reprinting and distributing the book at the moment that it became popular again. This had to do with the change of ownership at Fayard. To my mind it was a clear violation of freedom of expression.

They used some technical [excuses]. I was disappointed that in France you can suppress freedom of speech by not distributing or publishing books that are in demand. 

But it goes beyond my case, it has to do with the era we live in where ideologies and political positions are restricting our freedom of expression – especially when it concerns Palestine.

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Read the whole interview and listen to an extract from this link: https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20240628-france-s-tense-political-climate-mirrors-israel-s-says-scholar-ilan-papp%C3%A9

“Decolonizing Beauty”

ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS Launches

Its “Decolonizing Beauty” Campaign

A Celebration of Traditional African Beauty

DAKAR, Senegal
27 June 2024

ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS is proud to announce the official launch of Decolonizing Beauty, a unique campaign designed to educate the public and celebrate the rich tapestry of indigenous and local beauty customs across Africa.

In a world increasingly dominated by Western beauty standards promoted through pop culture and the global beauty industry, Decolonizing Beauty seeks to challenge narrow perceptions and showcase the multifaceted historic beauty traditions in Africa's diverse cultures.

The campaign will utilise a multi-platform approach to reach a broad audience of English and French speakers around the world.

Throughout the remainder of the year 2024, a series of initiatives from the campaign will be announced. These initiatives include: Crowns of Coils: An Ode to African Hair A social media challenge designed to encourage content creators to appreciate African hairstyles and inspire their audiences To be announced in July Roots on Reels: Showcasing African Beauty Through Film A smartphone short film contest for African filmmakers to present cinematic portrayals of beauty customs practiced in their communities To be announced in August

Motherland Beauty: A Poetic Exploration of Traditional African Beauty A poetry contest for African poets to express the essence of African beauty through the power of words To be announced in September African Beauty in Focus: A Photojournalism Project A call for African photojournalists to capture the essence of traditional African beauty practices through their lens To be announced in October And last but not the least: Hairitage in Motion: A Live Celebration of African Hairstyles A live hair show and performance arts presentation showcasing the artistry and diversity of African hairstyles To take place in December

Stay tuned for exciting updates by following ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS on social media. https://www.instagram.com/zikora.media.arts/  https://www.tiktok.com/@zikora.media.arts  https://x.com/ZikoraMediaArts https://www.facebook.com/zikoramediaandarts Follow the campaign using our hashtag #DecolonizingBeautyZikora

For more information about ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS, please visit https://www.zikoramedia.com/ or email - info@zikoramedia.com

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About ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS: Launched in Abuja, Nigeria in 2023, ZIKORA Media & Arts is a media production company and cultural institution that produces, preserves and promotes creative content and art which captures the nuanced stories of Africa and Africans. Zikora means "show the world" in the Igbo language of southeastern Nigeria.

The organisation’s motto is to show the world what it means to be Unapologetically African. ZIKORA carries out its vision through its six Creative Branches: Film & TV; Journalism & News Media; Literary Arts; Performance Arts; Events; The Collective Tree.  A Francophone Africa network is in place to connect to French-speaking Africans. ZIKORA has a number of projects underway including a documentary feature film in production, a West African dance training initiative in Senegal and an online publication called DIASPORA which publishes personal essays about the experiences and cross-cultural identities of Africans living outside of Africa.

The vision to capture the experiences, expressions and impressions of Africa and Africans through immersive storytelling produced through multimedia and creative multidisciplinary forms including, photography, dance, poetry, visual arts and film.

SOURCE ZIKORA MEDIA & ARTS

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PODCAST: New episode on displacement and repair...

SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICA

African displacements and the search for refuge, in life and art

In this new episode, we are discussing how to support refugees and displaced people, as the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, reports that more than 120 million are currently forcibly displaced, by war, violence and persecution.

This is an unprecedented high number, described on World Refugee Day (20 June) by the organisation as a "terrible indictment on the state of the world".

We'll see with Aaron Adkins from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) how to address the needs of the South Sudanese refugees fleeing the war in Sudan.

And with Maribeth Black from the UN's World Food Programme in Mauritania (WFP), we'll hear how, in a different conflict situation, the government has managed to integrate refugees into the country successfully, an example for many in Africa and beyond. 

Finally, we'll head to the museum of modern art of Montpellier, the MO.CO, in the south of France, to meet with the French Algerian artist Kader Attia, at his new exhibition, 'Descent into Paradise'.

He has been inspired all his life by his own story of migrations, his travels, and his main theme: how to repair past traumas through art and poetry.

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LISTEN TO THIS LATEST EPISODE FROM HERE:

African displacements and the search for refuge, in life and art

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ALL EPISODES HERE:

SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICA

An in-depth look at an important story affecting the African continent today.

From 11m two Friday per month 

Coming soon: Our interview with Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, from Paris

England-based Israeli historian Ilan Pappé was in Paris, France, for a couple of days to talk about his book on ethnic cleansing in Palestine by Israeli governments, after a public discussion in Pantin (93), my colleague Jan van der Made and I invited him to RFI for an interview.

More soon...

Israeli historian Ilan Pappé comes to France

The Israeli historian Ilan Pappé is in France this week to talk about his book on ethnic cleansing in Palestine by Israeli governments, he participated in a public discussion in Pantin:

More soon

Kader Attia @ MO.CO in Montpellier

One of my favourite visual artistS has a new exhibition in France for the first time in years...

Kader Attia, born in Seine-Saint-Denis near Paris in 1970, has been raised between France and Algeria, his parents' country, studied in France and travelled extensively, before settling in Berlin.

His work is highly inspirational, a journey around his reflections on the ideas of repair, healing and rediscovery, mixing political stance, a poetical aesthetic and a cultural/spiritual quest.

Here are a few snapshot as I just came back from Montpellier's MO.CO, museum of contemporary arts.

More on the exhibition soon.

'DESCENTE AU PARADIS'

World Refugee Day - June 20

 

World Refugee Day: UN agencies rethink their support for displaced people in Africa

With the number of displaced people and refugees higher than ever on Earth, this year's World Refugee Day is a moment to call for support, whether displacements are due to wars, poverty or climate catastrophes. One continent remains more affected than others: Africa, with the emergence of a few solutions and positive examples.   

A key factor driving the figures higher has been the devastating conflict in Sudan: at the end of 2023, 10.8 million Sudanese remained uprooted.

With the war in Sudan, the United Nations agency for refugees and displaced people (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) had to deal with not only Sudanese people fleeing the conflict but also refugees settled in Sudan needing to return home, especially South Sudanese people, but also Kenyans, Ugandans and Ethiopians.

"Last year in April, we started to see a significant number of returnees," Aaron Adkins, the Emergency Coordinator for IOM South Sudan, told RFI in an interview from Renk.

"First, from May 2023, 1 500 were arriving per day, sometimes 2,500 per day," he adds.

"Sudanese asylum seekers also came across, seeking refugee status and shelter. And our goal was to keep them away from the dangerous zones at the border, and to move them to safer zones for the refugees and to their home if possible, for South Sudanese citizens."

The main challenge for the UN has been to secure transport for the returnees and to assure safety.

Luckily, the South Sudanese returnees and the Sudanese refugees have often been able to travel together peacefully,  Adkins reports, and to communicate adequately.

Emerging solutions

In Mauritania, where thousands of Malian refugees have been fleeing violence for over a decade, major progress has been made.

"Mauritania is much more stable than the rest of the Sahel, and it is also a  country that has been a leader, not only in Africa but beyond in terms of welcoming refugees," Maritbeth Black, the head of programme for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in the country told RFI in an interview from Nouakchott. 

With the help of the introduction of cash transfer to support both the local communities and refugees to improve their livelihood.

"The government of Mauritania has been a great driver in terms of accepting refugees as part of the population," Black says.

"Refugees have access to social programmes, healthcare schemes, and cash transfers that help them to provide for themselves. They then receive food from WFP. Refugees also have freedom of movement, and can come and go with the cattle, while we know that most of them are pastoralists." 

Mauritania hosts more than 91,000 Malian refugees, mostly in the arid southeast Hodh Chargui region, in the Mbera camp.

The camp has become the third largest town in the country.

Refugees from Mali have been steadily increasing since 2012.

Black thinks the model put into place in Mauritania should inspire other countries hosting refugees in Subsaharan Africa and even further.

Given the political instability, impacts of climate change and persisting humanitarian challenges in the Sahel region, UNHCR estimates that we should expect an increase in the refugee population in Mauritania from 170,000 in 2023 to 246,000 in 2026.

Conflicts and climate threats

Forced displacement surged to historic new levels across the globe last year and this, according to the 2024 flagship Global Trends Report from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The rise in overall forced displacement is the 12th consecutive annual increase.

“Behind these stark and rising numbers lie countless human tragedies. That suffering must galvanise the international community to act urgently to tackle the root causes of forced displacement,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, millions were internally displaced last year by vicious fighting.

The report also showed that worldwide more than 5 million internally displaced people and 1 million refugees returned home in 2023. These figures show some progress towards longer-term solutions.

So the UNHCR warmed against apathy and inaction, when solutions exist and support is needed.

World Refugee Day is organised every year on 20 June by the United Nations to raise awareness on the issue of displacement around the world. It was first established in 2001, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.