Document Type
Presentation
Location
Magnolia Room, LSU Student Union / Zoom
Start Date
5-3-2026 1:30 PM
End Date
5-3-2026 1:50 PM
Abstract
I would like to discuss how literature can serve as an antidote to self-isolation and how it functions as a means to create relationships between humans, thereby providing meaning for life itself. To address this topic, one could recall Judith Butler’s reinterpretation of Adriana Cavarero’s theory of inclination (2021: 46-62). In the philosophical field of ontology, inclination works as an illustration of two different ways of existing: inclined and vertical. Both positionalities correspond to two different ontologies, namely one of caring and one of self-sufficiency. As interesting as the philosophical instances brought by Cavarero and Butler are per se, I would like to suggest how they could spark an interest for all of us who work in literary studies, when it comes to the role of literature in today’s world. Therefore, I will analyze the play Que ta volonté soit Kin (2018) by the Congolese multidisciplinary artist and author Sinzo Aanza. Set in Kinshasa, the play stages two women living on the streets and interacting with each other. As poetic as their dialogues might seem, I am convinced that they immortalize a certain ethics of relationality or ethics of care. Suddenly, a third character distances himself from the crowd of passers-by. The new interaction raises a reflection on life, memory and what we owe to each other as human beings when we cross paths. In these powerful lines, Aanza depicts the vivid experience of being alive, bruised but breathing, and reminds the reader of the immense power of literature.
Included in
On literature and inclination
Magnolia Room, LSU Student Union / Zoom
I would like to discuss how literature can serve as an antidote to self-isolation and how it functions as a means to create relationships between humans, thereby providing meaning for life itself. To address this topic, one could recall Judith Butler’s reinterpretation of Adriana Cavarero’s theory of inclination (2021: 46-62). In the philosophical field of ontology, inclination works as an illustration of two different ways of existing: inclined and vertical. Both positionalities correspond to two different ontologies, namely one of caring and one of self-sufficiency. As interesting as the philosophical instances brought by Cavarero and Butler are per se, I would like to suggest how they could spark an interest for all of us who work in literary studies, when it comes to the role of literature in today’s world. Therefore, I will analyze the play Que ta volonté soit Kin (2018) by the Congolese multidisciplinary artist and author Sinzo Aanza. Set in Kinshasa, the play stages two women living on the streets and interacting with each other. As poetic as their dialogues might seem, I am convinced that they immortalize a certain ethics of relationality or ethics of care. Suddenly, a third character distances himself from the crowd of passers-by. The new interaction raises a reflection on life, memory and what we owe to each other as human beings when we cross paths. In these powerful lines, Aanza depicts the vivid experience of being alive, bruised but breathing, and reminds the reader of the immense power of literature.
Comments
Bibliography
Butler, J. (2021). Leaning Out, Caught in the Fall: Interdependency and Ethics in Cavarero. In A. Cavarero (Ed.), Toward a feminist ethics of nonviolence. Fordham University Press.
Galley, K. D., Kwégoué, E. D., & Aanza, S. (2018). Arènes intérieures, Comme un goût de sang, Que ta volonté soit Kin. Passage(s).
Biography
I am a second-year PhD student at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where I am working on a dissertation in Francophone literatures, with a focus on contemporary literature from the DRC. My thesis’ provisionary title might be translated as “Holes as epistemic objects in Congolese francophone fiction of the diaspora” (Les trous comme objets épistémiques dans la littérature congolaise de la diaspora). Before starting my PhD, I worked as a research collaborator in Digital Humanities for CNRS in Paris for three years. I graduated in Digital Publishing at Université Paris 8 in 2023. I hold a Master’s degree in Classics from École Normale Supérieure (Paris, 2020) and a Bachelor's degree in Classics from Università degli Studi di Milano (2018). My research interests span from classical reception in postcolonial studies to decoloniality and literary theory.