Strange Fruit. A Decolonial Analysis of the Multifarious Significations of the Banana: Race, Slavery, Sexuality, Racial Capitalism and Environment.

Monday, May 8, 2017, 7pm

Strange Fruit. A Decolonial Analysis of the Multifarious Significations of the Banana: Race, Slavery, Sexuality, Racial Capitalism and Environment.

Françoise Vergès

HEAD – Genève, Boulevard Helvétique 9, 1205 Geneva, seminar room CCC, salle 27, 2nd floor

mage Caption: Gaston Emerigon Fabre, Antillean Woman Banana Vendor, studio photography, Martinique, ca 1885
Image Caption: Gaston Emerigon Fabre, Antillean Woman Banana Vendor, studio photography, Martinique, ca 1885

The banana, a fruit given to children and elderly for its nutritional qualities, a fruit that can travel great lengths without too much damage, has also been a metaphor for male sexuality, associated with slavery, with Banana Republics, i.e. US imperialism and military coups, with formidable use of pesticides, with images of Black savagery, with racism in soccer and politics, with environmental pollution and racial capitalism and with contemporary art. In her presentation, Françoise Vergès will follow these differents threads and suggest how useful a decolonial methodology can be to bring these threads together.