Istifaa Ahmed
University of California Berkeley
Social Sciences: Anthropology & Cultural Studies
mY [blOOd] bOdY: Examining Racialized Sexual Violence Against Black Women through Performance Art
University of California Berkeley
Social Sciences: Anthropology & Cultural Studies
mY [blOOd] bOdY: Examining Racialized Sexual Violence Against Black Women through Performance Art
Istifaa Ahmed analyzes sexual violence through performance art. She examines how various women of color performance artists use performance art as a political platform to contest the secrecy of violence – committed against them in private and hidden spaces – through the use of their bodies and its inhabitation, exhibition, and control over public space and audience. She centers the flesh as a site of political violence indicative of the sociopolitical conditions that permit the literal, intimate markings and brandings against targeted bodies.