Naminata Diabate

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Naminata Diabate
Nationality Ivorian
Education PhD
Alma mater Université de Cocody; University of Texas at Austin
Occupation(s) Scholar, Professor
Employer Cornell University
Known forAfrican feminist theory, biopolitics, protest studies

Naminata Diabate is an Ivorian scholar, author, and Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Cornell University. [1] Her interdisciplinary work spans African and African diaspora studies, gender and sexuality studies, biopolitics, and visual culture. [2] She is known for her research on embodied agency, protest, and the politics of nudity in African contexts. [1] [2]

Contents

Diabate is the author of Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa and has been described as having fluency in Malinké, French, English, Nouchi, Spanish, and Latin, informing her comparative and transnational scholarship. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Education

Diabate earned her undergraduate degree from the Université de Cocody in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. [5] She later completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, with concentrations in African Diaspora Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. [5]

Academic career

Diabate is an Associate Professor at Cornell University, where she is affiliated with multiple departments and programs, including, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS), Africana Studies and Research Center (ASRC), Literatures in English, Romance Studies, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies, Performing and Media Arts and Visual Studies. [6] [7]

She held the Robert and Helen Appel Fellowship for Humanists and Social Scientists at Cornell in 2020, recognizing excellence in teaching and scholarly promise. [6]

Diabate is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Africa Institute in Sharjah, UAE, and served as an Ali A. Mazrui Senior Fellow from 2021 to 2023. [8]

In 2024, Diabate was named one of the “10 African Scholars to Watch” by The Africa Report, alongside Simukai Chigudu, Toyin Ajao and Satang Nabaneh. [1]

Critique of Naked Agency

Diabate’s book, Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa, has been recognized for its innovative approach to African feminist theory and protest politics. The work explores how acts of insurrectional nudity and genital cursing function as embodied strategies of resistance, particularly among women, rooted in indigenous spiritual beliefs in African contexts. [3] [4]

A review in Feminist Africa praised Diabate’s “nuanced reading of female protest” and her ability to “reframe nudity as a site of power rather than vulnerability.” [9] The review highlights the book’s interdisciplinary rigor, blending literary analysis, political theory, and cultural studies.

Naked Agency has been cited as a significant contribution to African feminist scholarship and biopolitical studies, offering new frameworks for understanding protest, embodiment, and power. [10] [11] Naked Agency also won the African Studies Association Best Book Prize (2021) and the African Literature Association First Book Award in 2022, affirming its scholarly impact. [12] [13] [14]

Selected publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "10 African scholars to watch in 2024". The Africa Report. 23 January 2024. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Agency of/in African Studies: Of Naked Agency and Open Reading". Department of History, University of Toronto. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Naminata Diabate, Cornell University – Naked Agency". The Academic Minute. 7 December 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Decolonizing the naked body: African feminist aesthetics and protest". Journal of African Cultural Studies. Taylor & Francis. 2024. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  5. 1 2 "Naminata Diabate – Humanities Commons". Humanities Commons. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  6. 1 2 "Naminata Diabate". Cornell University. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  7. ↑ "Naminata Diabate". Cornell College of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  8. ↑ "Naminata Diabate". The Africa Institute. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  9. ↑ "Book Review: Naked Agency by Naminata Diabate" (PDF). Feminist Africa. March 2025. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  10. ↑ "Naked agency: its versatile applicability". Journal of African Cultural Studies. April 2024. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  11. ↑ "Naminata Diabate, Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa". Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry. 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  12. ↑ "Naked Agency: Genital Cursing and Biopolitics in Africa". Duke University Press. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  13. ↑ Nyangweso, Mary (29 September 2025). "Review of Naked Agency". African Studies Review. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  14. ↑ "Naminata Diabate wins ASA book prize for 'Naked Agency'". Cornell Chronicle. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  15. ↑ Diabate, Naminata (2020). "Nudity and Pleasure". Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art (47): 92–101. doi:10.1215/10757163-8649502.
  16. ↑ Falola, Toyin; Amponsah, Nana Akua, eds. (2013). "Jean Pierre Bekolo's Les Saignantes and the Mevoungou: Ambivalence towards the African Woman's Body". Women, Gender, and Sexualities in Africa. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. pp. 21–39. ISBN   978-1-61163-153-1 . Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  17. ↑ Diabate, Naminata (2011). "Genital Power: Female Sexuality in West African Literature and Film". Research in African Literatures. 42 (4): 72–93. doi:10.2979/reseafrilite.42.4.72 . Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  18. ↑ Diabate, Naminata (2010). "From Women Loving Women in Africa to Jean Genet and Race: A Conversation with Frieda Ekotto". Journal of the African Literature Association. 4 (1): 181–203. doi:10.1080/21674736.2009.11690138 . Retrieved 23 October 2025.
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