Members

STEERING GROUP MEMBERS | INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS | NETWORK MEMBERS

Steering Group Members

Professor Charlotte Baker

Professor Charlotte Baker is Professor of French and Critical Disability Studies in the Department of Languages and Cultures at Lancaster University in the UK. Her research explores questions of disability and stigma in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on albinism.

Dr Elvis Imafidon

Dr Elvis Imafidon is a Lecturer in African Philosophy at SOAS University of London and a Research Associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science, University of Johannesburg.

Professor Emelda Ngufor Samba

Professor Emelda Ngufor Samba is Associate Professor in Theatre and English, and Head of Performing Arts and Cinematography at the University of Yaoundé 1 in Cameroon. She is a theatre practitioner who is actively involved in the People’s Theatre for Social Change and she is Artistic Director of The National Association of Theatre Troupes in Cameroon and the Coordinator of the Fobang Mundi Theatre, a semi-professional troupe that uses theatre to disseminate health

Professor Kobus Moolman

Professor Kobus Moolman is Professor of Creative Writing in the Department of English Studies at the University of the Western Cape. He has published seven collections of poetry, two collections of plays, and edited a collection of poetry, prose and art by South African writers living with disabilities. He has won numerous local and international awards for his work, including most recently the 2015 Glenna Luschei Award for African Poetry for his collection A Book of Rooms. His recent research is concerned with investigating the relationship between the non-normative body (and alterity) and experimental textual practices that challenge generic boundaries.

International Advisory Committee Members

Kenneth Uyi Abudu

Kenneth Uyi Abudu is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Ambrose Alli University, Nigeria. He bagged his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy at Ambrose Alli University with a First Class honours, and a Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, with a Distinction. His research explores Philosophy of the Environment, African Philosophy, with interest in Ethics, Epistemology and Disability (albinism). He has published several essays in these areas and other areas of Philosophy.
Dr Joanne Bloch

Dr Joanne Bloch is a Post Doctoral fellow in the Department of English Studies at the University of the Western Cape. Joanne holds a PhD in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town. She was an exhibiting artist for close on 20 years, but after the onset of visual impairment decided to redirect her creative practice towards writing. In parallel with her art practice, Joanne has always had a particular interest in life writing. Her current Post doctoral writing project is based on conversations with other visually impaired South Africans, in a bid to allow these largely marginalized voices to be more widely heard.
Kirsten Deane

Kirsten Deane is a Masters in Creative Writing student. She completed her undergraduate and honours degree in English Literature. Since the age of sixteen, Kirsten’s writing has always explored how life is lived in different forms of life. Most recently, her work has explored the experience of living with a disability, drawing on her own disability and others. Her poetry and short stories have been featured in more than ten literary journals nationally and internationally, including a feature in the New Contrast journal.
Félix Mbog-Len Mapout

Félix Mbog-Len Mapout is a film maker and a promoter of social action documentaries. His passion begins with the applied theatre of his teacher Professor Emelda Samba. This is how he became interested in social integration and made films with the disabled, which include ‘Main tendue’, on begging; ‘Hémle’, an autobiography; ‘Le mythe de Mapout’, the quest for historical identity of a young disabled person and ‘Scènes de communication’, his meeting with a deaf-mute person. Félix holds a professional master’s degree in cinema, which he obtained in Senegal.
Byron Adams

Byron Adams hails from South Africa and has been disabled since birth. Disability is of paramount importance to him. He is keen to ensure that education around disability in Africa has the opportunity and resources to make for lasting change and acceptance for all people.