Katlego Kai Kolanyane-Kesupile

Last updated
Kat Kai Kol-Kes Performance artist Kat Kai Koi-Kes.jpg
Kat Kai Kol-Kes

Katlego Kai Kolanyane-Kesupile (born January 1988, also known as Kat Kai Kol-Kes) is a performance artist, musician, writer and LGBT activist from Botswana. She is known for being the first public figure from the country to openly identify as a transgender person. She is also the first person from Botswana to be named a TED Fellow.

Contents

Biography

Kolanyane-Kesupile was born in January 1988 in Francistown. [1] [2] She is the first transgender person to come out openly in Botswana, which she did in 2013. [3] [4] [5] Kolanyane-Kesupile attended Clifton Primary School. [2] She went to a boarding school in Durban when she was eighteen. [5] Kolanyane-Kesupile received a bachelor's degree in theater from the University of the Witwatersrand and earned a master's degree in Human Rights, Culture and Social Justice from Goldsmiths, University of London. [6] [3] She became a Chevening Scholar in 2016. [3]

Kolanyane-Kesupile is the founder of the Queer Shorts Showcase Festival, [7] which is the first and only LGBT themed theater festival in Botswana. [8] [9] She has written for Peolwane Magazine, The Kalahari Review, The Washington Blade and AfroPUNK.com. [10] Kolanyane-Kesupile also plays with a band, Chasing Jakyb. [11] She writes songs for the group in both English and Setswana. [11] The group released an album, Bongo Country, in 2015. [12]

Kolanyane-Kesupile was a 2013/2014 Best of Botswana honoree in the Performing Arts category. [10] She was named a Highly Commended Runner Up for the 2015 Queen's Young Leaders Awards. [13] She was named a TED Global Fellow in 2017 and was the first Motswana to earn this distinction. [14] [15] In 2018, she was featured in the OkayAfrica 100 Women list. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevening Scholarship</span> UK university scholarship for select foreign students

The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and partner organizations, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Serano</span> American writer and activist

Julia Michelle Serano is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, transgender and bisexual activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books, such as Whipping Girl (2007), Excluded (2013), and Outspoken (2016). She is also a public speaker who has given many talks at universities and conferences. Her writing is frequently featured in queer, feminist, and popular culture magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender rights movement</span>

The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health care. A major goal of transgender activism is to allow changes to identification documents to conform with a person's current gender identity without the need for gender-affirming surgery or any medical requirements, which is known as gender self-identification. It is part of the broader LGBT rights movements.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+(LGBTQ+)music is music that focuses on the experiences of gender and sexual minorities as a product of the broad gay liberation movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity and transgender people</span> Attitude of Christians toward gender identity and transgender people

Within Christianity, there are a variety of views on the issues of gender identity and transgender people. Christian denominations vary in their official position: some explicitly support gender transition, some oppose it, and others are divided or have not taken an official stance. Within any given denomination, individual members may or may not endorse the official views of their church on the topic.

Kat Blaque is an American YouTuber and LGBT rights activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyna Bloom</span> American actress, model, dancer, and activist

Leyna Bloom is an American actress, model, dancer, and activist. She has attracted press as a trailblazer for transgender performers in the entertainment and fashion industries.

This is a timeline of notable events in the history of non-heterosexual conforming people of African ancestry, who may identify as LGBTIQGNC, men who have sex with men, or related culturally specific identities. This timeline includes events both in Africa, the Americas and Europe and in the global African diaspora, as the histories are very deeply linked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yance Ford</span> Producer and director

Yance Ford is an African-American transgender producer and director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of LGBT history, 21st century</span>

The following is a timeline of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history in the 21st century.

Lesbian erasure is a form of lesbophobia that involves the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence of lesbian women or relationships in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources. Lesbian erasure also refers to instances wherein lesbian issues, activism, and identity is deemphasized or ignored within feminist groups or the LGBT community.

The following is a timeline of transgender history. Transgender history dates back to the first recorded instances of transgender individuals in ancient civilizations. However, the word transgenderism did not exist until 1965 when coined by psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology; the timeline includes events and personalities that may be viewed as transgender in the broadest sense, including third gender and other gender-variant behavior, including ancient or modern precursors from the historical record.

Tshepo Ricki Kgositau-Kanzaa, is trans-rights activist from Botswana who lives in South Africa.

Liesl Theron is a South African trans activist and the co-founder of Gender DynamiX organisation.

Katlego is a given name. Notable people with the name include:

References

  1. "Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupile". Okay Africa's 100 Women. Archived from the original on 2020-10-16. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  2. 1 2 Kol-Kes, Kat Kai (2017-02-10). "What it feels like to become 'Botswana's first openly Trans* identifying public figure'". TRUE Africa. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  3. 1 2 3 McAllister, John (2017-06-30). "Kat's Nine Lives: Performing Trans Identity/ies in Botswana". Kalahari Review. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  4. Mnthali, Luso (29 July 2016). "Being Kat Kai Kol-Kes: A Motswana Trans* Woman's Art and Activism". AfriPop!. Archived from the original on 2020-10-16. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  5. 1 2 Kol-Kes, Kat Kai (2017-02-17). "Being trans* is becoming a black woman of complications". TRUE Africa. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  6. "How one Chevening Alumna is bring queer pride to her village". Chevening. 7 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  7. "Katlego Kolanyane-Kesupile - Agenda Contributor". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
  8. Busari, Stephanie (20 October 2017). "The women risking their lives to fight homophobia in Africa". CNN. Video by Ed Kiernan. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  9. Lavers, Michael K. (2016-01-21). "Former Botswana president speaks in support of LGBT rights". Washington Blade. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  10. 1 2 "Queer Literature and Culture: A dialogue with Katlego Kai Kolanyane-Kesupile". Africa in Dialogue. 2016-11-13. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  11. 1 2 "NEW MUSIC: Kat Kai Kol-Kes, the transgender artist from Botswana, brings rain to the dancefloor with 'My Body". AFROPUNK. 2014-09-17. Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  12. Mahlinza, Luyanda (2015-07-08). "Ever heard of Post-pop Folk?". Cue Online. Archived from the original on 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  13. "Motswana ARTivist Recognised In 2015 Queen's Young Leaders Awards - Mining & Travel". Mining & Travel. 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  14. "Botswana's first publicly open transgender among 10 African trailblazers on the TEDGlobal 2017 list". YourBotswana. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  15. 1 2 "Kolanyane-Kesupile Honoured on Global Influencer List". Pristine Mag. 7 March 2018. Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-16.